SLATE: Kansas State volleyball sweeps Hawai’i for the second day in a row

The last time K-State‘s volleyball team visited the Rainbow Wahine before this weekend, they came into the match having lost all five previous meetings and they were facing the preseason #6 team in the country.

That was in 2016, when the Wildcats started a season which would end as a regional host in the NCAA Tournament by upsetting the Wahine 3-1.

In other words, being tasked with facing Hawai’i twice on its home floor isn’t like opening the season, say, at home against Eastern Podunk State. Indeed, although they weren’t ranked to start the season, Hawai’i did get 27 points in the preseason AVCA poll and they were a tournament team last season.

As you’re aware, the Wildcats swept their hosts on Saturday before a crowd of nobody. Yesterday, the fans were allowed to attend, and 5,700 of them saw K-State do the same thing all over again as they improved to 2-0 with another sweep of the Wahine. Kylee Zumach led the way with 18 kills and 12 digs for her sixth career double-double. Freshman Gloria Mutiri had 10 kills with no errors.

For those of you paying attention, that means K-State Sports is now 5-0 on the season and it’s still six days before football starts. Even more impressive: the soccer team hasn’t been scored upon and the volleyball team hasn’t even lost a game, much less a match.

Speaking of...

Football

The news is starting to percolate as we get into the final stretch before opening day. BracketCat caught up with #6, wideout D.J. Render yesterday; this morning, with the clock ticking down to five, he tackled quarterback Alex Delton.

Today’s Sports Extra has Corbin McGuire reporting on how Trey Dishon is leading the way on K-State’s 2018 defensive line.

At the Mercury, Ryan Black talked with Sean Snyder about the special teams approach for 2018, while our old pal Greg Woods reports on former Wildcats, now coaches, Eric Hickson and Zack Hanson.

In today’s scan for links, a bunch of articles from the Mercury appeared via other papers, and they appear to be things based on K-State’s media day on August 6 although they may be more recent pieces. Either way, it looks like we’ve never linked to them, so here we go:

Via the Neighbor News in Marietta, Ga., it’s Black again with a more general look at the return teams themselves, with Duke Shelley and Isaiah Zuber appearing to be the guys... for now. Meanwhile, via the Kokomo Perspective, Justin Toscano takes a look at the race for the top of the depth chart at punter and Black tries to figure out new secondary coach Brian Norwood. According to Alex Delton, the secondary is playing with swagger and speed. That’d be good news. Finally, via the Corydon, Ia., Times-Republican, Toscano tells us about freshmen defensive backs Lance Robinson and Wayne Jones.

Golf

Robert Streb has been valiantly trying to regain his PGA tour card. Yesterday, he did it. Streb had to stretch matters to a playoff against Peter Malnati, but he captured the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio yesterday when Malnati’s putt lipped out on the playoff hole. Malnati, a good friend of Streb’s, also secured his return to the tour in the process. (Story from Brentley Romine at Golfweek.)

Other

It’s not K-State related, but it’s Kansas-related and it’s Big If True. A Wichita State archaeologist believes he has found the lost city of Etzanoa... buried under Arkansas City. Etzanoa was a Native American city believed to have housed as many as 20,000 people back in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. (Story via the editorial staff of the Lawrence Journal-World.)