Last spring when I started this blog (back when it was K-State Sports and Beyond), I decided to do a weekly review of all K-State sports activity. I enjoyed doing it so much I'm going to bring it back this fall. You'll notice I don't include coverage of the Equestrian and Rowing teams, not because I don't think they're important, but rather because I don't know anything about the respective sports and wouldn't be able to comment intelligently about the results. If you want to see how those teams are doing, go to the official K-State sports Web site. Also, the title of the original blog reflected my idea to include non-athletic K-State news when warranted. You'll probably see a little of that from time-to-time.
Volleyball
Coach Suzie Fritz' Wildcats moved into the AVCA top 25 (No. 25) on the strength of their first-week win over then-No. 14 Cal-Poly. This week, the Cats continued their solid play.
First up was a Wednesday showdown in Ahearn Field House with my current school, the University of Houston. The Cougars were no match for the Cats as K-State rolled to a 3-0 victory (30-18, 30-16, 30-23). Holding a team to less than 20 in two games is pretty solid.
This weekend, K-State traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii (what a tough road trip) to participate in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic. First up was No. 16 and host Hawaii. The Cats fell, 1-3, to the Warriors, but did not go down without a fight. The Cats twice pushed the game to extra points, and staved off elimination in game three with a 30-25 win. Those are signs of a team that won't quit against top competition, certainly a positive for the rest of the year.
The Cats' second match was against Louisville (unranked, but received the most votes among unranked teams in the AVCA poll). The Cardinals proved much less competition, with the Cats dispatching them 3-0 (30-27, 30-23, 30-16).
K-State's final match of the Classic came against their best competition to date, the No. 5 UCLA Bruins. Again, the Cats fell behind 0-2, only to fight off elimination with an impressive 30-19 victory in game three. UCLA proved too much, however, leaving the Cats with a 1-3 defeat (20-30, 25-30, 30-19, 27-30).
The K-State volleyball team is now 5-2 on the season. Next up is the Varney's Kansas State Invitational, September 7-8. On Friday, September 7, the Cats will play Arkansas (6-1, unranked but receiving votes) at noon and Northern Iowa (3-3) at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, September 8, the Cats will play Fresno State (1-5) at 1 p.m.
Cross Country
Both the mens and womens cross country teams finished second to Wichita State last week at the J.K. Gold Classic. Only four teams competed, the other two being Southwestern College and Cloud County Community College. The Wildcats next competition is Friday, September 7, in the K-State/KU dual in Manhattan.
Other K-State/Manhattan News
This is something that doesn't really have much place on a sports page, so if you're not interested, you're welcome to stop reading now.
One of my biggest embarrassments related to the city of Manhattan has been the Riley County Police Department's continuing inability to find the Manhattan serial rapist. For those of you who don't know, and given the pitiful media coverage that's probably most of you, there have been seven similar rapes in Manhattan over the last seven years. This issue is particularly sensitive to me because I know a girl who was attacked by the man, although she was able to fight him off. I also realize police work is not as simple as TV would have us believe, but in my friend's case the RCPD's response seemed to border on incompetent. If the police have acted in all cases as they did in my friend's case, it's no wonder this menace hasn't been caught.
Until the guy is caught, I implore the women of K-State to use the precautions mentioned in the KC Star article linked above. Lock all doors and windows 24/7. Use door security bars. Carry mace or pepper spray on you and keep a bottle in your house. In a pinch, just about anything blunt will work as a weapon (especially a baseball or softball bat). Even more, keep the pressure on the RCPD to catch this guy.
This has to end. It's dangerous to the women of Manhattan, and will soon be a national embarrassment to Manhattan. It's going to reflect poorly on K-State, although the campus has nothing to do with the investigation. Would you think twice about sending your daughter to a school in a town like this? I guess I'm writing about this because I believe the more attention it gets, painful as it may be for Manhattan and K-State, the more likely the RCPD and the public are to get serious about finding this guy.
End the women of Manhattan's nightmares, and end the embarrassment for Manhattan and K-State. Catch him in 2007.