McPHERSON, Kan. – A Hesston Invitational win for Girls Tennis, a top 3 finish for Girls Golf in the 4A State Preview, and a 4-1 start to the season for Volleyball in the AVCTL Preseason Tournament highlight a strong start for McPherson High School Athletics for the 2025-26 school year.
GIRLS TENNIS
The Bullpup Girls Tennis team won the Hesston Invitational to begin the season, narrowly beating out Buhler, Hesston, and Wichita Collegiate. Maryn Sandbo, who finished third in the 4A State Championships last season, placed third in the No. 1 Singles bracket. The bracket featured last year’s 4A Runner-Up and a star Collegiate newcomer, who finished ahead of Sandbo. Freshman Mayson Wiens won the No. 2 Singles bracket, including a comeback victory in the tournament semifinals. She trailed 4-1, but bounced back to force a tiebreaker to win 8-7 before shutting out her opponent in the title match.
The No. 1 Doubles duo of Dragon Rodriguez and McKenna Paul placed 3rd. The pair won their opening matchup against Maize South 8-4, but fell in the semifinals against Hesston. They turned it around in the third-place match, defeating Wichita Trinity 8-4. The No. 2 Doubles team of Quinn Liebl and Avery Unruh won their bracket, going a perfect 3-0 in the tournament.
GIRLS GOLF
The McPherson Girls Golf team began the season at the 4A State Preview at Carey Park in Hutchinson, placing 3rd. Senior Bullpup golfer Brodie Kuhn individually finished tied for 2nd with 79. Senior Andi Buschbom placed 9th with a score of 84 and freshman Lleyton Kuhn finished T-13th, shooting 87.
Wamego won the event with an overall score of 329. Wellington took the second spot with 334 and McPherson’s 3rd place finish came with a combined 347 strokes.
VOLLEYBALL
McPherson Volleyball has already had an up-and-down start to the season as they are unable to play in their home court after flood damage to the Roundhouse floor in June forced the school to replace the historic court. This forced the Bullpups to move their jamboree to Valley Center and for their regular season opener to relocate to Newton.
Despite the challenges, the Bullpups showed out in the AVCTL Preseason Tournament. McPherson won four out of the five matches on the day. The team, coming off of their state 4th place finish in 2024, defeated Valley Center 2-0 (25-22, 25-20), Andover Central 2-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-23), Newton 2-0 (25-12, 25-17), and Maize 2-0 (25-19, 25-23). Their lone loss came to 5A’s Emporia in a three-set thriller (26-24, 20-25, 21-25).
Ava Romero, Brooke Doile, and Rylie Whitfield has a strong day in the tournament. Romero finished with a team-high 54 combined kills, also adding 43 digs, five service aces, and three blocks. Doile had a team-high 52 digs while also having five service aces and 34 total kills. Whitfield had 109 assists and 31 digs in total. Elley Paulsen led with four blocks and Carmin Pavlovich led with seven service aces.
