Washburn Rural volleyball earns 6A state title, first since 2012. Seaman places fourth.

The Washburn Rural volleyball team (45-1) capped off an incredible year by going 5-0 at the state tournament, winning the eighth state title in program history and its first since 2012.

How Washburn Rural won its eighth state title

Washburn Rural, the No. 1 seed in 6A, beat No. 8 Blue Valley West (25-20, 25-16) first, followed by No. 5 Blue Valley (25-15, 25-18) and No. 4 Liberal (25-7, 25-17) in pool play on Friday.

On Saturday, Washburn Rural defeated No. 3 Mill Valley (25-9, 25-18) in the semifinals and Blue Valley (25-21, 26-24) in the state title match.

It was the third meeting against Blue Valley, who they had beaten on Friday and earlier in the year.

"That's always dangerous because we beat them twice before," said Bordewick. "Playing them that third time, it's a little worrisome. They know us just as well as we know them. The kids fought and scrapped and found a way to get us home."

In the first set against Blue Valley, Blue Valley held onto an early lead before Washburn Rural took its first lead since 1-0 when senior Chloe Carlgren and junior Zoe Canfield combined for a block to give the team a 14-13 lead.

More:Kevin Bordewick's Washburn Rural squad is going for another state volleyball title

"We needed to spread them out," said Bordewick on what led to Washburn Rural getting the first set win. "We were going too slow and the middle was getting over and covering everything. We spread it out, a little bit quicker tempo, I thought Zoe did a great job directing traffic."

Washburn Rural would lead the rest of the way, but it was still close with its biggest lead being four points until a Carlgren block won it, 25-21.

In the second set, it was Washburn Rural holding on to a lead until the mid-teens when Blue Valley made it close.

Down the stretch, the best player in the state got hot. Brooklyn DeLeye will play next year for the University of Kentucky.

"She's one of the greatest athletes we've had and that's well documented," said Bordewick of senior Brooklyn DeLeye. "But she's also one of the greatest competitors and one of the greatest kids with a high moral character.

"If little kids really emulate who they look up to, they can look for Brooklyn. They can look for any one of those kids on our volleyball team because they're a class act."

There were ties at 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 24 and the game would go to extra points when Blue Valley senior Julia Kinney had a kill to tie it at 24.

A kill from Washburn Rural senior Taylor Russell made it 25-24, and Blue Valley hit it out for the game point.

A feeling of pride washed over Bordewick as he saw the ball hit the ground.

"Last year was a heartbreaker," said Bordewick. "For them to go through the whole season, the grind and then to see their excitement is why I really enjoy moments like that."

For Canfield, it was pure happiness.

"I immediately started crying," said Canfield on her reaction to seeing the ball hit the floor. "I was laughing. I don't know. It's just like, the best feeling."

DeLeye fell to the ground.

"It was really unbelievable," said DeLeye. "We've worked so hard for this and that it all ended like this, there's no better way.

"Finally accomplishing the one thing that you want to do in high school, it's just unbelievable."

Seniors climb the mountain

With state titles in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and now 2022, there's no doubt that Washburn Rural volleyball is one of the best programs in the state.

For a senior class that had placed second, third and fourth, in that order, for the past three seasons, it was a moment of poetic justice with this year's win coming against Blue Valley.

"Being (at the state tournament) with the other seniors all four years," said DeLeye. "We were a young team our freshman year playing Blue Valley and getting second. We were like, 'We don't want that deja vu,' We just wanted to make sure we beat them especially since we lost four years ago."

One of the reasons for the program's success is Bordewick's vision of focusing on daily, incremental improvement and that will lead them to where they want to be at the end of the year.

"You don't look towards the end," said Bordewick. "You've got to take care of it now. Every day we come into practice, you got a job to do and let's get better at some things."

But the lack of a state title was hard to avoid for the seniors.

"I mean, we've got second, third and fourth and now we finally got that number one," said DeLeye. "We've learned a lot from the past. Our seniors have so much experience coming to this tournament. We just didn't have the nerves we had in the past and it was really cool."

Team chemistry is something that Bordewick has said has carried some of his teams to success when they may not have been the best team talent-wise on the court.

On Saturday, Bordewick saw a combination of talent and chemistry.

"I've never seen them as close before," said Bordewick. "We knew what everybody was doing, we knew where we were supposed to be and what we had in our game plan. I'm just so happy for them. They earned it. They deserve it."

For junior setter Canfield, winning the state title and sending the senior class out with one was important.

"It feels amazing," said Canfield. "They're my best friends that I've ever had. To send them off with a state title win is awesome."

Kevin Bordewick continues dominance 

Penny Lane was in the stands over the weekend to see Washburn Rural volleyball capture its latest state title.

The retired athletic director and former volleyball coach that Bordewick succeeded was all smiles after the win.

"He's done a wonderful job with the program," said Lane. "The girls absolutely love him and work hard for him. It's fun to see the success he's had over and over."

Canfield has been a part of basketball state titles, and that's where the University of Kansas commit's future lies, but winning a state volleyball title had always been a dream, too.

"It feels great and (Bordewick), he's just such a great coach," said Canfield. "He's such a great guy and to be able to give him another state title is awesome."

Bordewick's teams have been a consistent presence in the 6A postseason, so what did this one mean, the first state title since 2012?

"It means everything as far as the volleyball program," said Bordewick. "I'm just really I'm really happy for the girls because they're the ones that put in the work and the time over the summer and their club season and during practice."

For DeLeye, who's been around the program since she was younger with her older sister having played for Bordewick, it's been a fun ride.

"It's been a long four years, Borde," said DeLeye. "We've had the ups and downs, but I would never change it for the world."

Seaman volleyball takes fourth in 5A

On Friday, Seaman faced No. 2 St. James Academy (33-3), No. 3 Maize South (31-5) and No. 7 Lansing (26-8) in pool play with the top two teams record-wise advancing to Saturday.

Seaman went 2-1 to advance to the state semifinals, beating Maize South (26-24, 24-26, 25-17), falling to St. James Academy (25-17, 25-20) before ending the night by knocking out reigning state champion Lansing (17-25, 26-24, 25-12).

On Saturday, Seaman lost to St. Thomas Aquinas (25-15, 19-25, 25-9) and Hutchinson (25-16, 25-18) in the consolation match to finish fourth at state.

"I'll remember how much fun their personalities are," said head coach Tatiana Dowling heading into the tournament. "We truly have a great time whether it's in practice on a bus or team dinners and they're just a really fun group of girls that I've really enjoyed being around."

Seaman made the state tournament for the third straight year with a quarterfinals appearance three years ago and now two fourth-place finishes in the past two years.

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This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Washburn Rural volleyball wins 6A state title