Slate: Cougs Gameday!

Football

Kansas State (1-0) takes on Washington State (0-1) in the first ever meeting between the schools. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 AM on Fort Riley Day at Bill Snyder Family Stadium and the game will be broadcast on TNT. As usual, all these details and much more can be found in Jon Morse’s How To Watch post.

In the opener for both teams, Wazzu lost to Washington 24-10 in a much-too-early edition of the Apple Cup. Wazzu struggled on offense, though the score might have been closer if not for a couple of missed field goals and a couple of interceptions by transfer QB Cade Pinnick. Washington State’s defense definitely had its moments, however. If you’re like me, you probably missed the game in its entirety. Luckily, we have Drew Schneider on hand to break it all down.

The general gist seems to be that Wazzu may not be the best team on the Wildcats’ schedule this year, but Kansas State overlooks the Cougars at its own peril. As Collin Klein himself noted, Pinnick can do some damage with his legs and K-State’s defense seemed ever-so-slightly suspect against the run in the blowout win over Nicholls. There’s also Wazzu’s defense to consider, which managed to get a key 4th down stop on the goal line against Washington, thanks to stalwarts like Keith Brown, a linebacker who missed all of last season with injury and is now the teammate’s de facto standard bearer.

I don’t pay a lot of attention to fan Q&As, but there are some interesting tidbits in Kellis Robinett’s weekly mailbag, including that Klein’s recruiting philosophy is that every player is merely leasing a roster spot until someone beats them out of it. Competition is constant is apparently CK’s mantra. See? There is only football.

Golf

The women’s team started play at the Annika Intercollegiate in Minneapolis well enough, but unfortunately, things went quickly awry, and Kansas State finished 12-over par 300 at the event, finishing 11th out of 12 teams.

Nanami Nakashima was low Wildcat for the event, finishing 4-under on the final day, good enough for a tie for 22nd place.

Up next, the team will compete in Schooner Fall Classic in Norman, Oklahoma on September 19-21.

Soccer

Kansas State (4-0-3) is somehow still undefeated and a 2-2 result against Colorado State this week, a third consecutive draw, helped preserve that statistic. This is the longest streak without a loss in program history. In a wild contest, the purple squad scored twice in a 50-second stint in the second half to take the lead, with Emerson DeLuca finding the upper left corner of the net first, followed almost immediately by a goal from Gabby DeMers, her third of the season. But alas, the Rams hit the equalizer just 20 seconds later to tie the game.

The SoccerCats will stay in Colorado for their next match, squaring off against Colorado College at 2PM on Sunday.

Tennis

The tennis team got its short fall season off to a start this weekend with four players competing in two different tournaments.

Diana Smolinska and Sabrina Balderrama teamed up to play doubles against Wisconsin at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic. They lost that match 4-6 and Smolinska also lost both her singles matches, though Balderrama went 1-1 on the day.

Meanwhile, Lena Beuing and Marta Leon were in Chapel Hill for the Kitty Harrison Invitational. They teamed up for two doubles matches, but ended up losing both, first to host North Carolina and then to Elon. Both women also lost their respective singles matches after that, though Beuing pushed her opponent to a third-set tiebreak.

Both tournaments continue over the weekend in a round robin-like format.

Volleyball

In the first road match of the season, the VolleyCats beat Weber State 3-1 (25-16, 25-19, 25-27, 25-18) and extended their win streak to five matches. This is the longest such streak for head coach Jason Mansfield and also the first 5-0 start for Kansas State since 2022.

Addison Massey let the team with 17 kills, followed by teammates Skylar Brady (15) and Ellah Derrer (10), the first match this season with multiple players hitting double-digit kill performances.

The VolleyCats will take on host Nevada on Sunday at 3 PM.