Sorry for the weak posting lately. To make up for it, I have a hilarious, and 100 percent authentic, joke for you from this weekend.
My girlfriend was in town, and we went over to my buddy's house to watch the Nebraska-USC game. The lady wore her KU shirt, complete with "Kansas" and the bird below it. My buddy has a two-year-old girl, and I pointed to the bird and said, "Hey, (little girl's name), do you know what that is?" And she sat there for a second and said, "A chicken!"
She couldn't have been more right.
Volleyball
Another week, another solid showing from the much-improved K-State volleyball team. The Cats are ranked No. 16 this week in the AVCA poll, up three spots from last week.
On Wednesday, the first volleyball installment of the Sunflower Showdown turned into the Sunflower Shotdown when the Cats rolled into Lawrence and rolled out with a 3-0 victory (30-20, 30-21, 30-25).
Saturday brought the Cats' conference home-opener against Baylor. The Lady Bears put up even less of a fight than KU did, going quietly back to Waco with a 30-16, 30-16, 30-20 defeat.
The coming week brings a regionally televised match with Oklahoma (9-2, 2-0) in Ahearn Field House. The Sooners are unranked but receiving votes in the AVCA poll. Let's hope FSN doesn't decide to bring me midweek coverage of the Houston Texans instead of an exciting sporting event featuring well-built women in very tight shorts.
On Saturday, the Cats travel to Boulder to face Colorado (5-4, 0-1). The Cats are in a four-way tie for first atop the Big 12 standings.
Men's Golf
Tim Norris and the Links Cats began play today deep in enemy territory at Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence. After 36 holes of a 54-hole tournament, the Cats totalled 595 shots, five behind leader/host KU. Individually, Wildcat Kyle Smell leads the way at 146 (72-74). Five shots is not a huge deficit in a team event, but the field is tightly bunched as five teams (Oral Roberts, UNC-Wilmington, Houston, Nebraska and Western Kentucky) are within six shots of the Cats.
Golfweek isn't expecting much of the Cats this year, ranking them No. 131 this week. This is one observer who will be hoping the team surprises the pollsters.
Women's Golf
The women had a strong showing in Lincoln last week at the Chip-N-Club Invitational, finishing second to Texas State. Also notably, the Cats left conference competitors Nebraska and KU in the dust.
Individually, K-State's Kali Quick finished second, firing a seven-over 220 (72-72-76). Abbi Sunner and Michelle Regan also tallied top-10 finishes to lead the Cats. As a team, the Cats finished with a 54-hole total of 902, five shots behind Texas State.
The Cats continued fall play today in Denver at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate. Golfstat is doing a crappy job of updating the tournament right now, but as near as I can gather the Cats had a really crappy first round, firing 310 to finish in 13th place out of 18 teams. Quick again had a solid opening round at four-over 76, but already six over through 12 holes in round two. We'll hope the ladies pull it together tomorrow for a solid finish. It should be noted the competition is much more solid in this event than the Chip-N-Club.
The pollsters at Golfweek are more optimistic about the women's golf team, rating the Wildcats 46th this week.
Cross Country
K-State traveled north to Lincoln for the Woody Greeno Invitational last weekend. Props must be given to the women's Beverly Ramos for winning the meet by covering the course in 21:21. Ramos' finish led the Wildcats to a second-place team finish, behind host Nebraska.
The men didn't fare as well, finishing seventh in a field of 24. Individually, Alex Umberger led the Wildcats with a 17th place finish in 25:57.
The Wildcat harriers return to action September 29th in Minneapolis at the Roy Griak Invitational.