Plus soccer with a narrow loss to top-20 Colorado, basketball bad news, and football on a Friday
Volleyball
The VolleyCats inched their way back towards .500 on the season with a 4-set win over Lipscomb on Thursday night in the opening game of the The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Classic at Morgan Family Arena. The Wildcats (2-4) were led by their three 5th-year seniors as Aliyah Carter had 17 kills and grad transfer Meg Brown had 20, aided by Izzi Szulczewski’s 47 assists which put her over the one thousand mark in career assists at K-State . The Wildcats get a two-day break before taking on North Carolina on Sunday at 12:30pm to close out the Classic. That match, like nearly all of K-State home and Big 12 matches, can be seen on ESPN+ (there are two on ESPNU later this season).
Soccer
While volleyball was having a good night, it wasn’t quite as pleasant further south on College Ave as the SoccerCats fell to #19 Colorado 0-1 on Thursday night at Buser Family Park. But it wasn’t all bad for K-State, as the Wildcats went nearly shot-for-shot with the visiting Buffaloes, with CU holding a slight 23-20 edge. But only the Buffs were able to find the back of the net, with CU’s Jace Holley netting the lone goal of the match just after halftime in the 49th minute. It was the lone miss for K-State keeper Murphy Sheaff, who made a season-high 12 saves on the night, good for tying her career-high for saves and the second-most by a Big 12 keeper this season. With the loss, K-State falls to 3-4-1 overall and 0-1-0 in Big 12 play.
K-State gets a long weekend, and returns to action next week with a two-game road trip along the Ohio River, starting with West Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 19th followed by Concinnati on Sunday, Sept. 22nd. Both matches, as well as all the remaining matches on the season, will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Basketball
We’ll start with the fun news. Your Kansas State Wildcats will feature an updated look on the hardwood, as the Cats have unveiled new uniforms ahead of the 2024-25 season. The base set of uniforms are relatively plain on the front and back, but feature intricate side panels that’s likely supposed to mimic a pattern found on a natural “wildcat”. Or it’s just random. Regardless, expect K-State to keep the current alternates as well, especially the script “Wildcats” and a lavender kit, and possibly the new anthracite “Wildcats” kit that was debuted last season.
On to the bad news. Sophomore forward Macaleab Rich, one of just three returning scholarship players from last season, was cited for possession of marijuana and for not having proof of insurance during a traffic stop in Manhattan on Tuesday. If this is a first offense, it’s likely he will be able to enter a diversion program. Regardless, it’s not a great look for a program that has been plagued with off-court distractions now the last two seasons.
Football
Yes, it’s Friday, a night normally reserved for Friday Night Lights and high school football. But tonight your prairie Wildcats are in action against the Wildcats from the desert, as K-State squares off against Arizona in a non-conference game. Yes, despite Arizona now being a member of the Big 12, this game will count as a non-conference matchup since it was scheduled before Arizona joined the Big 12. (I have not seen how this game could potentially affect tie-breakers should they be needed)
Tonight’s kickoff will come just after 7pm, and if you can’t make it to Manhattan for the game, you can catch the action on FOX or online at FoxSports.com. Just be warned, Tim Brando is on the call. We’ll also have your game thread here, as well as on our Discord.
In case you missed it earlier this week, we had an actual Q&A for the first time in forever, welcoming in Brian Pedersen from Arizona Desert Swarm for his thoughts on the desert cats ahead of today’s matchup.
The Wildcats escaped New Orleans last weekend with a win over a good Tulane squad, but the Cats need some serious work in the secondary, a unit that was continually beaten last Saturday and is facing another good QB/WR combo this weekend.
Headed into tonight there is a bit of injury concern on the offensive line, as two potential starters, Carver Willis and Hadley Panzer, were both banged up against Tulane and may miss some or all of the game tonight. But the defense appears to be getting healthier and deeper, and I suspect that the heavy in-game rotation, especially among the front 7, has both contributed to that and will continue as the season progresses.
Last, but certainly not least, not that you needed ESPN to tell you, but Avery Johnson is pretty good, and his potential is nearly unlimited. :checks notes: Yeah, I’m pretty sure we knew that, but it’s nice to see a larger audience getting to see that as well. Also, if you haven’t seen it in person, the lavender Corvette that Avery has is SWEET. It’s unmistakable. It’s beautiful. It’s…EMAW.