Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

The Kansas Volleyball Association’s all-star match is Saturday at 7 p.m. at Washburn.

Below are the rosters:

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by joanna

I talked to Gary Loop this morning,  he’s the father of Circle volleyball player Meryl Loop, a three-time All-Metro player. He said that Meryl is signing with Akron on Thursday.

Well, Meryl had originally signed with Baylor, but Gary said that the school didn’t come through on the scholarship it offered her, so last month she found out she was out of luck. This scholarship to Akron is actually available, though.

I’m not sure what’s going on in recruiting, but I know the system is messed up when kids are promised scholarships, they commit, they tell every other coach that they’ve committed, then that school backs out. I saw it happen to Carroll football player Brayden Burris, who committed to Kansas State in the fall of his junior season, only to see himself relegated to a grayshirt, where he’d have to pay his way for a period of time.

It’s a crazy way to do business and frustrating for parents and athletes.

As I said on an earlier post, I can’t believe how the fall season has sped past. We’ve already finished two sports in girls tennis and girls golf. Volleyball and cross country finish up this weekend, and soccer is on its way out. Shoot, take a look at next week with soccer quarterfinals and the beginning of football playoffs. And don’t even remind me that basketball practice starts in about three weeks.

But here’s my attempt at wading through all the stuff to point out what shouldn’t be missed this week. If I do miss something, comment on the blog. That’s what it’s there for.

Let’s start in soccer: Regional pairings, which can be found here in breaking sports, are out. The second round games on Thursday and Friday are the most interesting, although Northwest and Maize on Tuesday looks like a good game. That winner will play at Southeast on Thursday. Which second round game is one you want to see? I’d choose Southeast vs. Northwest or Maize and a likely matchup with Trinity and Andover Central.

Onto volleyball: In Class 6A, Goddard is the area’s lone shot at winning a title. So good luck to those Lions. In 5A, Valley Center has an extremely tough draw. Not only are the Hornets (22-14) the No. 8 seed, but they are in the same pool as the state’s top two ranked teams — Bishop Miege (38-1) and St. Thomas Aquinas (35-2). Only the top two teams come out of pool play. Now, Newton (38-2) has a chance. This is a very talented, experienced team and the Railers should definitely make it to the semifinals. The only problem? They likely will face either Miege or Aquinas in the semis.

Cross country: There’s nothing like the state cross country meets — everyone pray for dry weather. Bishop Carroll is definitely a favorite on the boys side in 5A, while Mulvane is the fave in 4A.

And now for football: This week is always interesting because it’s the final week of districts, there are games on Thursday night, as well, and there are plenty of teams desperately trying to make it to the playoffs. Of course, there are some meaningless games — two teams that are 0-2 in districts (i.e. East and South). And even those games that match up two 2-0 teams — it just doesn’t have the same climax that it did before because both will advance. Sure, to win is important in seeding, but there’s certainly not as much desperation.

Thursday’s games:

East at South. Yes, this is a meaningless game. Arthur Brown may not play in this game, either, because of an ankle sprain (which kept him out of last week’s game, too.) I guess it will be interesting to see how many yards Bryce Brown can rack up for the Aces. He’s currently at 1,647. He needs 126 yards to tie his City League rushing record from last year (1,773 yards).

Andover at Andover Central. An Andover win puts the Trojans in the playoffs. Andover Central’s already in. Augusta at Rose Hill. This game is important for Augusta, which still has a chance. Andover has 3 points, while Augusta has minus-12. Augusta needs help from Andover Central and needs to win big. It won’t be easy, though.

Independent at Collegiate. Both need a win to advance. Collegiate definitely needs to play well after its debacle at Garden Plain last week.

Mulvane at Belle Plaine. Mulvane’s in and will end Belle Plaine’s chances (it needs a win to advance) because the Wildcats finish the regular season 9-0.

Here’s a look at Friday’s games:

Liberal at Carroll. Both are in. Carroll wins.

Manhattan at Heights. Heights needs a win to get in and needs Junction City to beat Emporia. Count on both happening. But if Emporia upsets Junction, it comes down to points.

Southeast at Derby. There was a time when this game meant a trip to the playoffs (before the current system when half the state’s team advance). Now both are in.

Maize at Northwest. District championship is on the line. Both are in. Yawn. But there should be some excitement — can Northwest’s defense stop Maize quarterback Garrett Gould and receiver Brett Soft? It’s an interesting matchup.

Dodge City at Goddard. Goddard must have a win here, but Hutch plays Garden City, which is also 1-1 in district. So Goddard not only gets some help from Hutch, it has all tiebreakers with Garden City.

Kapaun at Newton. District championship on the line. Nothing else.

Hays at McPherson. Mac’s in and has all the momentum after beating Great Bend last week.

Smith Center. Expect yet another shutout. Wait a second, Smith Center doesn’t even play this week. Still.

Alright, so you’ve made it this far in this loooong post, disagree with me, think I’m the smartest sportswriter ever? Let’s hear what you have to say.

Saturday’s sub-state action:
Valley Center defeated Carroll to advance to the Class 5A tournament, while Kapaun lost to Emporia. In 6A, Northwest lost to Dodge City in the finals.

Goddard continued its impressive run, beating Maize in the championship of its sub-state (also played in Dodge City. That always cracks me up because they have to drive so far to play a team that is minutes away.)

Not surprisingly, Newton advanced to the 5A tournament.

In 4A, Andover beat Circle in three games. It was an entertaining match to say the least.

Volleyball sub-states are on Saturday — check out Kansas.com for the sub-state pairings, either later today or Thursday. They will run in Thursday’s paper.

But  before we get into that, Tuesday was ridiculous. Derby beat Maize, ending the Eagles’ opportunity to win the AV-CTL Division I title outright. That put Goddard, Derby and Maize all into a tie for first place.

It was just as crazy over at Heights, where Heights beat North in three, then North beat Northwest in three and Northwest beat Heights in three. There were some of us wondering if the night would ever end (especially me. I didn’t even start writing on this game until 10 p.m. Can we say ugh?)

Northwest was in worse shape than me, though. The Grizzlies, who had started the season so well — cruising through the first half of the City League with an 8-0 record, beating Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mount Carmel in consecutive weeks. It sure looked as though the Grizzlies would finally win their first volleyball league title. It looked as though this was the year when, finally, Carroll and Kapaun, weren’t at the top.

But Northwest lost to Carroll and Kapaun in its first matches of the season’s second half. Still, they were all tied with two losses, and Northwest still had a chance. But the Grizzlies couldn’t get past North. What was interesting, though, was Northwest didn’t fall apart. That could have happened, and I know I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it happen. Northwest rebounded with a tough win over Heights in the night’s final match.

As for sub-states, Cheney’s got a tough sub-state at Rose Hill. Despite being the No. 1 seed, the Cardinals (29-5) have the possibility of facing Andover Central (27-11), Clearwater (30-7) and Rose Hill (25-10).

Goddard, the top seed, could meet up with Maize — if the Eagles get by North — which would be interesting. Especially considering these towns are so close together, but will drive all the way to Dodge. Northwest will likely face Dodge City. Derby (25-13) could meet up with top-seeded Washburn Rural (33-5) at Southeast’s sub-state.

The Circle sub-state could mean a matchup of Andover and Circle. Circle won in two when they met last month.

Moundridge (36-2) has got to be the favorite at its sub-state — no other team has a record better than three games over .500. Plus, it’s Moundridge.

As for 5A, I still haven’t seen the pairings, but I’m counting on Newton getting out of its own sub-state.

And here’s you’re installment of the weekly Can’t-Miss Events.

Starting off with golf: Class 6-5A golf is today at Auburn Hills, while Class 4-1A is at Buhler’s Cottonwood Hills. Check out kansas.com for coverage in Tuesday’s paper.

As for soccer: There’s some pretty good matches in Dodge City-East, Augusta-Andover Central, Maize-Northwest all on Tuesday. On Thursday, there’s Andover Central-Andover, East-Kapaun. Regional action starts next week. Also, regional pairings come out on Saturday.

Volleyball on Tuesday: Derby’s at Maize — with a Maize win, the Eagles win the AVCTL Division I title. Derby, Goddard and Salina South are a game back, so a Derby win  could mean a four-way tie for first. Northwest is playing North and Heights, two teams it lost to on Saturday.Sub-state action starts on Saturday. The highlight could be Andover and Circle meeting in the finals of the 4A sub-state at Circle.

Cross Country: Regional meets are on Saturday — check out Sunday’s paper or  kansas.com for results.

Onto football: East meets Southeast on Thursday night, and the Aces are desperate for a victory. If East loses, Southeast clinches a playoff berth, while East is out despite its most highly anticipated season in years. East must rebound from its loss to Derby in the opening game of districts. Will the Brown brothers be at full strength? We don’t know yet.

Heights at Junction City — both are 1-0 in district, which gives this game some meaning. OK, not as much as it used to, given that half the teams in Kansas advance to the playoffs. Ugh. Regardless, should be a good game.

Derby at South — Derby could clinch a playoff berth with a win. Unbelievable, huh? Especially considering the Panthers were 1-17 over the past two years.

Garden City at Goddard (edited) – This game lost some luster with Goddard losing last week, however two straight wins could still mean a playoff berth. (P.S. — thanks to City for setting me straight)

Andover Central at Augusta — Augusta got a big overtime victory last week, so both are 1-0 in districts. Not bad for Augusta (3-4), considering the Orioles started the season 0-2.

Collegiate at Garden Plain — Both got easy wins next week, so it’s pretty fair to say they’ll both advance to the playoffs. Still should be an interesting game. The Owls won it last year 27-20.

There’s obviously other games that will be good — Hesston’s at Hillsboro, Rose Hill’s at Andover. What game or event do you not want to miss this week?

I just finished writing my volleyball story tonight, and was it ever tough trying to fit everything that happened at Northwest into one story. Or maybe my brain was just fried by the unbearable heat of the Northwest gym. Not good.

(Edit: Here’s the link to the story)

The league’s top three teams were at Northwest — Northwest (8-0 in the City League), Carroll (7-1) and Kapaun (6-2). These were some amazing matches — especially by Kapaun, which beat Northwest and Carroll. After Carroll beat Northwest, it put the City League race into a three-way tie.

Each team still has six more league matches to play, but I don’t see anyone stumbling here. If all three win out, it will be a three-way tie for first, which would give Northwest its first-ever league title.

But oh, that Northwest team has to be kicking itself. It let one slip away against Kapaun — check out Wednesday’s story for the particulars — and just didn’t play as it had been in previous league play.

– joanna

Let’s go ahead and start with football for this week’s can’t miss events. Why? Because it’s football!

Kapaun and Carroll meet on Thursday night: It’s always highly anticipated game, and one that has even more interest now that Kapaun upset East last week 28-6.

 Friday’s games

East vs. Heights: What makes this game so intriguing is what it could do to the City League race. If Heights upsets East — which Kapaun proved is definitely beatable – it would take the lead in the City League race. Heights has the speed on the defensive side to shut down East on the corners, a key to stopping Bryce Brown. But I don’t see East — and Brown, for that matter — struggling like it did last week. This team is too good to have it happen two straight games.

Clearwater at Andover Central: Yep, I can’t believe I wrote that, either. But Clearwater is 3-2. Not bad for a team that was 1-8 last year.

 McPherson at Valley Center: Mac should roll, even though Valley Center has two wins.

Now on to volleyball. The match Tuesday night of Kapaun Mount Carmel and Bishop Carroll at Northwest is one that rarely happens in the City League. The league’s three top teams all at one place — gotta love it.

Tennis regionals are this week, and league golf meets are going on, too.

It’s looking good for any sports fan.

– joanna 

Northwest’s volleyball team made its statement in the season’s first night of matches by beating Bishop Carroll at Carroll. The Grizzlies hadn’t beaten Carroll, the City League’s top team for decades, since the late 1980s. You know what? I bet some of you reading this weren’t even born then. Oh. My. God. Anyway, Northwest beat Kapaun the second week of the season and then beat Heights on Tuesday night. to finish the first half of the City League schedule unscathed. Click on this for the game story. On October 2, Northwest can truly stake its claim on the title when it plays host to both Kapaun and Carroll. It should be a good night of matches.  – Joanna