SLATE: Lots of Friday action ahead of a big Saturday

Soccer

The Kansas State soccer program will look to get back to .500 this evening as they host a Yale squad that comes to Manhattan with a 3-0-1 record, with all four games for the Bulldogs coming at home in New Haven, CT. The will be the first meeting between K-State (2-3-1) and Yale, and also the Wildcats first match against any squad from the Ivy League. Tonight match from Buser Family Park will be available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, as James Westling (play-by-play), Oscar Montenegro (analyst), and Lina Sattarin (sideline) will have the call. No live audio, but you can follow the stat tracker for free at kstatesports.com.

If you attend, be sure and stick around for the post-game ceremony where K-State will recognize it’s 2022 senior class. Not sure why they’re doing it so early in the season, but the Wildcats have 12 players who will be honored.

Volleyball

The VolleyCats get into action early today, with a 10AM CT match versus Rutgers to open the Rambler Challenge hosted by Loyola-Chicago. They will then turn around and play the host Ramblers at 7:30pm tonight, and conclude their action in the tournament on Saturday with a 12pm matchup versus St. Thomas. Only K-State’s match versus Loyola-Chicago will be available on ESPN+, but you can listen to Rob Voelker call all the action for K-State at kstatesports.com/watch or on the K-State Sports app.

K-State started this week with a big five-set win over Missouri on Wednesday, and are sitting at 6-1 to start the season. Of course junior Aliyah Carter is the headliner for the Cats, but she’s received consistent support this season from grad-transfer Elena Backa and senior Loren Hinkle, as well as freshman Shaylee Myers who led the Wildcats offense with 23 kills versus the Tigers.

The Scarlet Knights enter the tournament at 4-2, with their best win coming versus Fresno State to open the season. The Ramblers are 3-4 so far this season against a tough schedule, pushing both Tennessee and Michigan to five sets before falling, and also taking a sweep against #13 Purdue. The Tommies enter at 2-4, with both wins coming in five sets. One other interesting note: K-State is the lone team of the group that has played games in their home arena this season — Loyola’s first home match will be their 12:30pm match-up versus the Tommies; Rutgers won’t play in New Jersey until they host their tournament next week; and St. Thomas won’t be in Minnesota until the 22nd. Yikes.

Football

Oh, yeah, there is a football game this Saturday as well. Though after #chantgate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the game had gotten lost in the noise. But what shouldn’t get lost in the noise is that Nick Leckey and several of his teammates along the o-line, have been forgotten in the K-State Ring of Honor discussions, and that needs to be fixed. Now.

As a guy who had spent the previous four seasons playing in front of “sell out” crowds at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Adrian Martinez’s expectations were pretty high headed into last Saturdays season opener. And good work Wildcat Nation, he was pleasantly surprised, noting especially the energy generated from the student section and the crowd noise volume on defensive 3rd downs.

Apparently Jordy Nelson, like so many of us in Kansas, took the opportunity on the first day of legal sports betting in Kansas to place a wager. And like many K-State fans, the first bet was on K-State to win the Big 12 in football.