OT, Update.

Time for an update ( yes the men’s FB team renewed our faith. Now, lets beat KSU)

1. Women BB. Interesting interview with Schneider. Made a pointed comment that they could not compete for a new starting center due to NIL money being asked by top transfer and freshmen candidates.

Great news on the soccer and VB fronts

2. Women’s soccer. The soccer team has won their last two games, on the road against Arizona and Arizona State. We played great defense in both games and the offense has really begun to gel. We beat Arizona 4-0. We are still 9th in conference and play our last game this week against a very week KSU team, with no wins in Big 12 play. Freshman, Jillian Gregorski is now the 3rd leading scorer in the Big 12 and our team defense is being recognized as being excellent. On the slight negative side, our Big 12 schedule was easier than it could have been, but with a very young team and a new coach and system, that was good. Probably not going to make NCAA play unless we win the Big 12 post-season tournament. The tournament is in KC this year.

2. VB. Another excellent week for the VB team. KSU pushed us to the limit but we won in 5 sets. KSU is very good and very well coached. On the bad news side, our starting and excellent senior middle blocker, Onabanjo, did suffer what looked like a high ankle sprain in the last set, which required Zoey Burgess to take over. Burgess played well and contributed two key plays. Even without Onabanjo, we easily beat UCF on the road after only two full days of rest. KU is ranked 8th nationally and is first in the Big 12. The bad news is, that we had a weak front end to our schedule. Don’t expect us to win out but if we do, I think we are a team that can go far in the NCAA tournament. Some will depend on Onabanjo being able to come back and Burgess being able to fill in until that happens. We do have two home games this week, ISU and Utah. Both have good records and are middle of the pack Big 12 teams.

Rock Chalk

OK, a quick update

2. Women’s soccer. The team finished great wining their last two games and ending up in 6th place in the Big 12.while making it to the Big 12 post season tournament in KC. Overall, a very successful first season for Coach Nate Lie and this very young team. Made and error in my last upload, Jillian Gregorski is the 9th leading scorer in the Big 12 not #3. I believe we play Arizona State next Wednesday.

2. VB. Another excellent week for the VB team. We beat ISU and a ranked Utah team in 3 sets. This week we play TTU (away) and WVU (home). both are winnable games. Then the finish from hell, needing to play at ASU, Arizona and at home TCU, with two of those teams ranked, While we are unbeaten in Big 12 play, ASU has only lost one game and TCU 2 games, I believe. We also have to play Baylor. BTW Onabanjo was able to play in the Utah game and did very well. The ankle appeared to be fine.

Rock Chalk

OK, a very good week

1. The Women’s BB team had a good exhibition win against a feisty Washburn U team. The outside shooting will determine if they will be competitive as our Center candidates are very suspect.

2. Women’s soccer. Two great wins in the Big 12 post season tournament in KC. The team beat Arizona state 2/1 and WVU 1/0 in double overtime on a rainy Saturday. What was fun about the WVU game was how hard the teams played and how similar their style of play was. Both were very aggressive. A great save in the first half by Sophie Dawe, the KU goal keeper, really saved the day and the only KU goal by Lexi Watts early in the second overtime period was spectacular. She was helped by Saige Wimes. The team is now in the semifinal match this coming Wednesday evening against Nationally ranked TTU. Will we make the NCAAs? Unlikely, based on our overall record unless we win the Tournament, but one never knows specially since we have now won our last six games.

3. VB. Another excellent week for the VB team. KU beat TTU and WVU. In the WVU game our right-side player, London Davis, tweaked her ankle (not serious) and was replaced by a seldom used player, Ellie Schneider, a 6’5” player. She played great. This gives me hope for next year as we lose, I believe, 5+ seniors off the current team. We now enter a critical final stretch with four nationally ranked teams in the next six games. We are one game ahead in Big 12 standings to ASU, who we play this coming Wednesday in Tempe, and 3+ games ahead of the others. ASU is a superb, very well coached team. With 7 games to go before the end of conference play, we could lose 3 games, but this team is tough with lots of depth. I think all the games are on at least ESPN+. If you only watch one game for this season, tune in to the ASU game this Wednesday. Win or lose, you will see two of the best, well coached teams in the country.

Rock Chalk

All three women's teams play wed night (almost simultaneously)

• Basketball home opener vs Lindenwood @6:30 Lawrence time
• Soccer vs WVU @7pm
• #8 Volleyball @ #11 Arizona St @8pm

Minor correction, KU plays TTU on Wednesday in soccer. We just beat WVU.

My last update now that BB is here. Yes the men’s FB team renewed our faith. Now, let’s beat BYU.

1. Women BB. Jury still out .

So So VB news , and great news from soccer

2. Women’s soccer. Can you believe it? The KU women’s soccer team won their last two games at the Big 12 post season tournament against two nationally ranked teams, TTU and TCU. In the final, TCU generally outplayed us but we won 1/0 on an incredible play by Lexi Watts and some amazing saves by our freshman goalie, Sophie Dawes. Watts stole the ball from the TCU goalie and was then fouled in the box resulting in a goal kick, which was successful. Three of the saves by Dawes were outstanding. KU is in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019. The team have really gelled.

3. VB. This was a poor week by the VB team. A tough week started losing to ASU 1/3. This was not unexpected as ASU is really good and well coached. Could we have won, yes, but ASU just outplayed us. The team stayed in Arizona and lost to the home team 2/3. We played poorly and I think losing two days earlier to ASU did not help our confidence. We looked slow and mentally challenged. It did not help towards the end to lose Onabanjo again to an ankle injury. We are now one game behind ASU in the Big 12 and will drop in the National Poll which come out tomorrow.

I will close out this discussion for now unless one of the women’s teams makes a run.

Rock Chalk