OT. Fall KU women's sport

Our two main women's spectator sports in the Fall are soccer and VB. Both teams did well last year, soccer with a new coach last year and VB with a new coach this year.

Soccer, Many new players including a few transfers after loosing many key defenders. Much of the offense is back. Preseason schedule is tough but nice mixture of home and away games, many on ESPN+ starting tonight at home against Missouri State, which is an excellent team with a very good coach. Should be a good season but like last year, we may lose some games early.

VB. We essentially lost much of last year's team which made the NCAA tournament to graduation and one transfer out. The transfer out was understandable as she would have been a graduate student and went to a program with in her area of interest. With a new coach and many new players, transfers and freshmen, including three Eastern European freshmen and many transfers, the early season should be challenging. Not helping is our schedule.. Our first 14 games are on the road or at neutral sites. Our first home game, the start of conference, is against ASU on September 26, a really good and well coached team. A fun player to watch will be Jovana Zelenovic, 6'7" from Serbia. I went to the preseason game against an excellent alumni team with four former players playing for pro teams. It was a fun night. Team looked good. Jovanna, can you play BB?

hoshi wrote: The transfer out was understandable as she would have been a graduate student and went to a program with in her area of interest.

Shocking. A student using the old graduate transfer rule for its advertised purpose (although the portal renders that rule moot)

Soccer off to a 2/0 start. Easily beat a good, well coached Missouri State team 5/2 on Thursday and very good South Dakota State team, 1/0 today. Offense looked really good in both games but could have scored more in both games.
We played better defense today compared to Thursday's game.
We play Utah Valley at home on Thursday then our first road game at Utah State on Sunday.
Ever Onwards

KU women’s Fall sports did well this week.

In soccer the team played three conference champions and coming up, we play the #3 ranked team. Florida State at home this this week end. We beat Utah Valley 3/2 in a close game at the end after being up 3/1 until the last 10 minutes. Against Utah State, the game ended in a 0/0 tie. KU looked slow early but picked it up in the 2nd half. Florida State will be a real challenge.

Not sure if you know, but the KU soccer facilities will be used by a visiting team during the World Cup this Fall with Lawrence as a team’s base while playing games in KC.

In VB, the team played Vanderbilt in Lincoln. Vanderbilt was playing its first game in 25 years with a new coach and multiple very good transfers. Interesting, the KU coach fielded a team that would not have been my first choice. KU won 3/2 and played really well in the 5th set .

Last evening, KU played last years National Champions and currently #2 ranked team Penn State and took them to 5 sets before loosing 2/3. They played great. The line up used by Ulmer was very different from the Vanderbilt game. Interesting!!! Losing the last two sets came down to breaks that did not go our way. That is, this was a winnable match. Very encouraging. Two of the freshmen from Eastern Europe play exceptionally well, especially outside hitter Leban. Senior, Rhianna Swanson from McPherson was also stellar.

The schedule gets even worse this week with road games against ranked Wisconsin and Creighton.

Well, this last week was a mixed bag with women’s soccer and VB games.

The good news first. The soccer team is still unbeaten at 4/0/2. Both games this week we fun to watch. First, on Thursday, we played #3 ranked Florida State. FSU scored an excellent goal early while KU scored a beautiful goal in the second half by a freshman. Never totally satisfying for games to end in a tie, BUT. Both teams had their chances. Yesterday, we played Drake, here in Lawrence, and won 3/1. Two offensive mainstays scored goals along with one by a freshman, Rowan, for her 2nd goal of the season. This week we are on the road with a game against Yale on Sunday. Unlike men’s BB and FB, women’s team sport are competitive across different levels, so Yale will be a challenge.

The not so good news, the VB team lost both its games on the road to #8 Wisconsin and #12 Creighton. There was some good news. Both games went to 5 sets with a chance to win, BUT. Ulmer is still playing with his rotations. In the Creighton game, Cline was back at setter and 6’4” freshman middle blocker Aurora Papac from Croatia played for the first time and did quite well. This week, we play three road games in 3 days against Bowling Green, Wednesday, Georgia Tech on Th, and Purdue on Friday. All games are in West Lafayette. It would be nice to win some of these games.

Well that was a pretty good week for the two women’s teams.

First, the soccer team played and completed a road game in New Haven against a 2-2 Yale team and won easily 4/0. They were clearly the better team. There were four different scorers including Wilmes who while a very fast and excellent forward has been challenged scoring but she put in a beautiful header off a deep pass from Castens. The team has another week off before playing a Sunday East Coast road game against Liberty before the start of the first Big 12 game against OSU.

The VB team played three games in three days at West Lafayette against, Bowling Green (3/1), a ranked Georgia Tech (3/1) and a ranked Purdue team losing the Purdue game in another 5 setter (2/3). KU won the first two games as indicated and lost to the home team. The young team is beginning to gel but is also prone to errors. In the final with Purdue there is a high number of service errors, which were probably the difference between a win and a loss. This coming week the team continues to on the road in SD. Three games in three days versus Florida Gulf Coast, Green Bay and South Dakota. All the games are winnable BUT, with this team, who knows.

OK, that was a very good week for both women’s soccer and VB.

First, the soccer team played a talented Liberty team in a Sunday road game. When I looked up Liberty’s record I noticed they play a pretty good schedule and had only lost to ranked or good teams. The game today was a 3/2 win by KU. KU dominated for much of the game but I never felt comfortable. KU had a 3/1 lead with not too much time left but Liberty scored a nice goal with about 8 minutes to go. I think KU got too comfortable with a two goal lead. This was the last pre-conference game with a a road game against OSU this Tuesday PM. KU is now 6-0-2 and ranked 21st in the coaches poll.

VB had a great week playing in the Sough Dakota tournament and winning al thee games in 3 days all in 3 sets. The competition was limited in one of the games but the home team SDU, had a decent record as did Florida Gulf Coast University. FGCU was loaded up with International players and SDU had only lost to pretty good rated teams. KU did benefit from the fact that SDU played the late game on Friday and were taken to 5 sets by FGCU. Could not watch the KU game on Saturday but from following the scoring and “live stats”, it seemed that they started well in each set then tired. Service errors were less of a problem this week and KU showed its depth.. A few of the regulars were not having great games but the subs played very well. KU has 4 more road games against before starting conference at home against a talented and ranked ASU team. The current record is now 6/4 but they are ranked since all 4 losses were close and three were against top ranked teams and the 4th against a good Vanderbilt team.

OK a very good week but not great.

Soccer first. Only one game and on the road at OSU, the first Big12 conference game. Both teams were playing well in the first half but generally in KU’s favor until about the 35 minute when KU freshman forward, Rowan, was red carded and kicked from the game. In soccer that means not only are you out of the game but your team has to play with 10 players instead of the normal 11 (including the goal keeper). Was it a legitimate red card? Yes. Rowan came on as the goal keeper was securing the ball but had her cleats up and hit the keeper around the eye. Was it intentional. No! At the half the score was 0-0. In the second half, KU played exceptional soccer considering they were down a player. THEN, KU’s Castans got a rebound and scored a brilliant goal. KU 1-0. You could not tell KU was playing with a player down. OSU tried every hard to get the equalizing goal but KU held strong. Two home games coming this week against Baylor (Th) and TCU (Sun).

The VB team had a busy schedule, playing FOUR road games in 5 days including two on the same day. After beating Wichita State in three sets on Tuesday, they played and beat Omaha at their home in 3 sets on Saturday, and University of South Florida in 4 sets on Sunday morning. They then played Creighton 4 hours later and lost in 3 sets. Creighton did NOT play a morning game and was clearly fresher. Yes, the first 14 games for KU were all on the road or at neutral courts. The first home game is this coming Friday against last seasons Big 12 Champion ASU followed by a home game on Sunday against Arizona. Their current record for the year is 9-5 but are ranked. They have only lost to ranked teams, and all except the last Creighton game in 5 sets. The team is mainly made up of Freshmen and Sophomores.

Well, it has been two weeks since my last update. The first week was not a good one. Not only did the FB loose a heart breaker, but the combined women’s teams lost both soccer games, to ranked teams, TCU and Baylor. and the VB was 1/1. They lost to ASU, in 5 sets, AGAIN, but did beat a good Arizona team. The coach as been really playing with different combinations with only modest success

This last week as a little better, The good soccer news was that we beat KSU 4/1. KSU scored the first goal but then it was all KU. We played really well and I was hopeful that we could beat a ranked TTU team on the road. Such was not the case. TTU beat us 2/0 on two beautiful goals by their star forward. The first goal was a long shot from way out into the up right hand corner just above the finger tips of out gaol keeper. This week we play only one game, ISU on the road. A winnable game but road games are tough.

The VB team finished 1/1 this weak loosing in 4 sets to another ranked team #12 TCU. They are good and well coached. Again we have only lost games to ranked teams. The team is gelling and is gaining the reputation as one of the best blocking teams in the country. One player Reese Ptacek is gaining a national reputation. On the road for the second game we then beat a ranked Baylor team 3/2. FINALLY.

This week we play TTU at home and ISU on the road. Both games are winnable. The team rotate appears to have settled down. We are a very young team and our three freshman Eastern European are playing great VB.

Well, this has been a very good week for the ladies. Let’s hope the men’s FB team follow their example.

Had an interesting visit with a friend and former athletic director at one of the public HS here in LFK. He confirmed the issues, low interest, facing women’s/girls BB at the HS level. He is finding that girls flag football is really growing at the HS level along with VB.

The KU soccer team played only one game this week against ISU. ISU scored the first goal on a good effort by one of their forwards. KU then scored three goals to win 3/1. One of my favorite players, a mid-fielder, Kate Langfelder, hit her first goal from a rebound. Very happy for her. KU is now 9-3-2 and in 5th place in the Big 12 standings. The 9 wins ties the regular season wins from last year with 5 games to go.

VB played two home games this week. They destroyed a TTU team on Wednesday and beat a very good ISU Friday evening. The games were sold out. The TTU game was quite boring but the ISU game was so fun. ISU won the first set and KU the next three. Rhian Swanson and Reese Ptacek were outstanding but all the team played well. We have become a very good defensive team with an outstanding Nationally ranked blocking record.

This coming week we play Houston on the road, BUT, on Friday we play a very good KSU team in Allen Field house. This is the only VB game played at the field house. There should be plenty of tickets available and I encourage all to go see the team.

I hope our 6’7” Serbian right side hitter considers joining the BB team after VB season. This a pure fantasy.

Oops, got ahead of myself. The KSU game at AFH is not until Friday the 24th. This week we play Houston on the road on Wednesday , the 16th . This is followed by a home game against a very good and talented TCU team at home on Wednesday the 22nd followed by the KSU game. My apologies for the confusion.