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.

OK a quick update for last week.

On the soccer front, we tied a ranked West Virginia 2/2.This was a winnable game. An interesting aspect is that both KU scores came from Freshmen, Rowan and Smith. We are also missing a great freshman forward, Mary Sola, who appears to be injured. Not sure if it is season ending. On Sunday, we beat Cincinnati 1/0 in a tight match. We outshot them 17/2 but only scored a beautiful goal by our star forward Lexi Watts. KU in now 10-3-3 but all three losses have been in Big 12 to top teams. Our RPI is excellent. We play tough road games this week against BYU and the Utes. Need to win one of these to stay in the top 8 to be eligible for the Big 12 Championship. With 10 wins we are one game ahead of last seasons 9 wins.

The VB team had two road games, beating a good ISU team 3-1 in Ames n a fun game to watch and then beat Houston 3-0 in Houston. We are currently ranked #15 in the coaches poll. This team is Nationally ranked in blocking. Great to watch. Although our overall record is only 14-7, all the losses were to ranked teams. This week should be even more fun. We play TCU at Home on Wednesday, a team that beat us earlier 1-3 in Fort Worth. They are good. On Friday at 8PM we play KSU in Allen Fieldhouse. I purchased 4 tickets for the game and taking two daughters and a son-in-law.

A TCU win would be huge so hoping the ladies turn up. KSU has a good team but an expected AFH of 6,000+ will help.

Rock Chalk ladies.

PS. My grand daughter plays at State VB tomorrow evening, in Centralia. I think you all know why Centralia is important to KU FB fans, right???

I watched a good bit of the soccer match vs WVU. The second goal for WVU was a once in a great while shot from around 40 yards out just under the bar. I thought for the most part KU was the more dangerous team.

The week started very promising with the KU VB team beating highly nationally ranked TCU in three straight sets. I was at the game and the crowd was nuts. Very impressive performance both on offense and defense. Unfortunately the game against KSU in AFH did not go well with 2-3 loss. KSU played really well and had well scouted KU. In defense of the KU team, we looked really tired. The TCU game two days earlier was a high stress game and I think it carried over to the KSU game, KSU did not have a mid-week game and seemed fresher. Interesting, TCU also lost to a lower rated team. The KU RPI is still good enough to make the NCAAs but they have a tough final schedule. We need to finish well to rate a home game in the NCAAs.

The soccer team did really well. They had a very tough road travel schedule with first game at a very good BYU team in Provo winning 3/1. The Sunday game against a less talented Utah team finished 2/0. We are now in 5the /6 position in the Big 12. We will not be able to finish higher than #5 and could stay at depending on how we do against an excellent Colorado team on Senior night, this Thursday. Baylor, currently in 6th place, plays a weaker opponent in OSU so basically we have to beat CU to stay in 5th position. Regardless, we made the Big 12 tournament, which we won last year from the 8th position in the regular season standings. Big 12 soccer is considered one of the top conferences in the NCAA Division I.

Let’s not mention the FB game.

Well, that was a fairly good but not a perfect week for the women’s sports. In addition to soccer and VB, the KU women’s BB team had their first BB game, an exhibition with Fort Hays State.

Entrance to the FHSU game in AFH was a freebie so I walked down. FHSU is expected to win the MIAA this year. After a slow start, KU won easily. Nichols, our top returner from last year was her usual poised self with 20 points but the star was Jaliya Davis, a 5* freshman from Blue Valley North. She finished with 29 points. A fun element to me was not recognizing a very good returning player from last year, Regan Williams. She has put on more muscle, BUT, changed her hair color from dark brown to blonde and had quite a tan. Old man’s eyes. My apology Regan

On the soccer front, we beat Utah 2-0 on the road on two really nice goals one each by Moore and Watts. Lexi Watts goal was her 9th of the season. Unfortunately, a few days later we lost to a highly ranked Colorado1-2. Colorado had an early goal and KU came back late in the 2nd half to tie the game on a header by Gregorski off Castans corner kick, AGAIN!!!. BUT, CU scored off a penalty kick just outside the box with under 2 minutes to go on a questionable penalty. According to coach Lie and a friend who is an ex soccer ref, that was a bad call by a ref who had been inconsistent (to both sides) all night. We finished the regular season in 7th but could have finished 5/6th if the final score had ended in a tie. KU now enters the Big 12 Championship playing a very good WVU team who we tied 2-2 back in mid-October. Good luck ladies.

The VB team played two games on the road, Cincinnati (3-1) and WVU (3-0) his week and won both. While the competition was against lower ranked Big 12 teams, they were crucial wins after the KSU home loss. In the WVU game, one of our starting middles, Aurora Papac, was not suited up and not actually present so one can assume she was either ill or had a serious injury. She was replaced by Junior Aisha Aiono. Aisha played very well, although she struggles a little getting to far outside blocking position. Let’s hope Papac recovers from what ever ails her as we play a very highly Nationally ranked Colorado team on Thursday at home (I may try to get to the game) followed by a home game against Cincinnati and a return road game against KSU. Our finishing schedule is pretty brutal. We remain Nationally ranked at 14 in the coaches poll.

Ever onward Hawks.

Well the week started great but the finish was somewhat disappointing.

The BB team seems is winning but against inferior competition. Defense appears to be a bit of a liability. Freshman Jaliya Davis is for real. She is averaging >20 points per game but tends to get into foul trouble. Big test coming up on Saturday against MU at the T-Mobile Center after a mid-week game against Lamar.

The VB team keeps wining but plays FOUR road games in a row over the next two weeks, KSU, Utah, BYU and ISU. I would be happy if we win 2 or 3 out of 4 of those as long as one is the KSU game. The team has really solidified with a pleasant surprise being the play of Aisha Aiono, at middle, who stepped in for Aurorra Papac who missed a game due to illness. Aisha is a little slower than Aurora but a better and more aggressive offensive player. Really happy for her. We will badly miss Ryan White, our libero, next year. We are 19-8 so far and ranked #13 nationally and 2/3 in the Big 12.

The soccer team made another run at the Big 12 title. They beat very good WVU and CU teams and played BYU in the final, losing 1-0. They received a 3 seed in the NCAA playoffs with a home home game against a good (at the stage all teams are talented) California Baptist team. The game is this Friday. If they win, they play the winner of the Louisville versus Kentucky game. Not sure where that will be played but may be here.

Great week for the women’s team this last week. I had been sceptic of the BB team, especially their defensive effort. That was until last evening when we beat previously unbeaten MU at the T-mobile center. Both the offense and defense played great. Not only did we get good games from Nichols and Davis, but everyone pitched in, especially the bigs. Elle Evans was very impressive both shooting and on defense.

The soccer team beat California Baptist in the first round of the NCAA tournament 3/1. All three goals by KU were excellent but the last one by freshman Faith Johnson helped by Wimes was spectacular. The CBU goal was one of the most unusual goals one could imagine. How about a shot, mostly on the ground from 50 yards out making it through all the players and the goal keeper into the net. We play on the road in Durham, NC, this coming Thursday at 3PM vs Louisville. This is a winnable game, according to my friend who watched the Louisville/Kentucky first round game. All except one of the 32 ranked and all the Big 12 teams won their first round games. 25% of the second round games involve a Big 12 team.

KU VB is now #2 in the Big 12 and #13 nationally in the coaches pole. ASU at the top is probably unreachable. Last week I mentioned how difficult our final five games were. WELL, I really wanted to win the first of those, KSU in Manhattan. We won in 3 straight sets but the 3rd set was touch and go. Down 4 points near the end of the 3rd set, the coach made some unexpected changes to the team and it worked. Very unusual but timely. I think it confused KSU. One point by Laban, was a shot that our normal left side pin, would not normally try. We now have three more road games in a row, Utah, BYU and ISU, and final game at home against UCF. Our RPI in now at #13 which if we can maintain or better, should give us 1-2 home games in the NCAA tournament. All KU home games have been sold out but one can get seats through Seat Geek, if one is lucky.

Oooppss! Herema fed the ball to Johnston, not Wimes. My bad.

A early report, why, keep reading.
The BB team beat Minnesota holding them to 40 pts below their average.

The VB team had a bad game losing to Utah. May have been a letdown fron the KSU game. We dropped from 2nd to 4th in the Big 12.

Now the reason I wanted to write an early report. The soccer team beat ranked Louisville and is now in the round of 16. We won 3/1 on three very nice goals. So why not wait until the next game, Sunday vs highly ranked Duke.? Well coach Lie was really pissed with the talking heads.

“We listened to a podcast called ‘College Soccer Nation,’ which (has) really respected coaches,” Lie said postgame. “And they talked and previewed this game, and they said that this is when the Big 12 gets found out. And they used Kansas as an example of a team that didn’t even have a chance against Louisville. We were dismissed. I found that pretty tough. We had five top-50 wins this year, Louisville had two.

“I think it’s professional negligence to dismiss a team of this caliber. We deserve to be here. I appreciate it — we played it for our team before the game to tell them what the rest of the country thinks about this. And what I would just tell you and whoever’s listening — whoever we play here … we very, very, very much respect anyone that we’re going to play and we know the caliber at Duke, but like, we’re not really intimidated at all, if I’m being honest.”

We have never made it past the round of 16, so let’s make them eat their words. Still a number of other Big 12 teams alive with three more playing today.