KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010 / SPORTS
17B
VOLLEYBALL
Jayhawks look to build on success with young team
Junior outside hitter Karina Garlington spikes a ball past two UMKC defenders. Garlington posted 10 kills and 2 digs in the 3-0 win at Horesi Family Athletic Center.
BY SAMANTHA ANDERSON
sanderson@kansan.com
The volleyball team is improving. Last year, it recorded its first winning season and most victories 16- since 2004.
Jerry Wang/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
While most eyes are on Kansas football and whether Turner Gill will lead the Jayhawks to a breakout season, another team is primed to break out — Kansas volleyball.
Senior outside hitter Jenna Kaiser agrees with Bechard.
"This is probably going to be a strong group of girls," Kaiser said. "It needs to be the breakout season".
The Jayhawks open the season with a recruiting class ranked 26th in the nation according to prepvolleyball.com and the team is picked to finish eighth in the Big 12. The recruiting class consists of middle blockers Jessie Allen, Marianne Beal and transfer Taylor Manning; setters Erin McNorton and Kara Wehrs; defensive specialists Jamie Mathieu and Brianne Riley; and an outside hitter, Amy Wehrs.
Wehrs was ranked in the top 50 in the nation by PrepVolleyball. com and Beal was the top female volleyball player in the Kansas City area, according to the KU Athletics website.
"We've got the largest freshman class that we've ever brought in," Beachard said. "Not only in numbers, but in quality individuals."
College athletics are not like high school, however. These freshmen will be going against women that have years more experience than them and time spent in some of the top athletic training facilities in the country.
"It's a huge jump," Kaiser said.
The coaches, however, think that some of the new women will
"We do feel like there's a number of these newcomers, these freshmen, that will have an opportunity to jump in the mix right away," Bechard said.
Having such a strong recruiting class will also help the team's veterans.
follow Kaiser's footsteps and contribute their first year.
the freshmen will have plenty of guidance. There are nine returners, four of whom were starters and one who was a libero, or a defensive specialist.
tournament teams twice in her volleyball career and has a record number of kills for Kansas.
Two of the remaining returners, senior libero Melissa Manda and junior setter Nicole Tate, are also in the layhawk record books — Manda for career digs and career digs/set and Tate for assists/set and assists.
"I think it's going to make a competitive atmosphere in the gym and I think it's going to push us to
Not all of the record makers returned, however. Setter Katie Martinicch graduated last year.
One returner, Garlington, also made the Preseason All-Big 12 team. In addition, she has made the Academic All-Big 12 team two years in a row, she has made all-
"You can't replace Katie Martincich," said Garlington "She's a great leader and she's a great person to have on your team."
If this is going to be a breakout season, the Jayhawks will have to find a way to make it happen.
"Other people are going to have to step up and I feel like we are in the process of that." Kaiser said.
The coaches have already held more open gyms this summer than in previous years so the team could
--start working earlier on coming together and defining team roles.
The public will see the freshmen and upperclassmen work together in a game-like setting on Aug. 21 when volleyball will hold a team scrimmage in Lawrence. The team's first opponent this season will be Libscomb in the Creighton tournament, Aug. 27-28.
Edited by Dana Meredith
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-10 forward from Chicago, committed to the Wildcats on Friday, his father said Friday.
As Kentucky basketball fans prepare for their first look at the class of 2010 this weekend, coach John Calipari has given them another reason to salivate over the incoming freshmen in 2011.
Davis, who is rated the No. 5 player in the nation by the Scout.com recruiting service and No. 8 overall by Rivals.com, picked Kentucky over Ohio State, Syracuse and DePaul. Davis joins
6-6 forward Michael Gilchrist of Somderdale, N.J., and 6-2 point guard Marquis Teague of Indianapolis as top-10 prospects in the class of 2011 committed to play for Kentucky.
April 14. Eight days later, Calipari landed another top-five prospect in Teague.
Davis, who plays for Perspectives Charter in Chicago, shot up the recruiting lists this spring after an 8-inch growth spurt. He's now a 6-10, 220-pound prospect with the skills of a guard and a 7-4 wingspan who appears an ideal fit for Calipari's dribble-drive offense.
" C o a c h
Calipari is easy
to talk to and he
"It will be nice (playing with Gilchrist and Teague)," Davis told ESPN. "They are very talented and unselfish players, who are about winning, like me."
Calipari, who is unable to speak about committed players until they sign national letters of intent, is taking his current lineup of Wildcats to Canada this weekend for a series of three exhibition games beginning Sunday.
listens to what you are saying," Davis told ESPN recruiting writer Paul Biancardi on Friday in explaining his choice. "(Calipari) will be a father figure to me away from home. He's a demanding coach that will not tell me what I want to hear, but what I need to hear to improve."
Kentucky's 2010 group was the No. 1-rated recruiting class in America, and Davis' commitment made it almost inconceivable that Kentucky won't again have the No. 1 class in 2011.
"I used to stay on the perimeter a lot, and now I've got to go
Gilchrist, the No. 1 prospect in the 2011 class, pledged to UK on
ANTHONY DAVIS Freshman forward
"They are very talented and unselfish players,who are about winning, like me."
Kansas State running back Daniel Thomas leaps over Kansas cornerback Chris Harris for extra yards. Thomas was the Big 12's leading rusher in 2009.
down low and my weight hasn't caught up with me," Davis told Scout.com in an earlier interview. "I've got to put on more pounds. It makes it a little harder playing with bigger guys, but I use my strengths — pulling up
Davis was the subject of a recent controversy involving a report in the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper that cited anonymous sources suggesting the player's family was soliciting financial offers in return for his son's commitment. The newspaper suggested that the Davis commitment would cost as much as $200,000.
jumpers, shooting a three, or going past them with the dribble."
"For me, I would never in my life ruin my son's opportunity to go play in college and possibly the NBA for $200,000 or any type of money," the elder Davis, also named Anthony, said.
K-State quarterbacks fighting for starting job
Davis' father vehemently denied the report, which was criticized by many in the national media.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Usually when a coach has several quarterback candidates and says no one is standing out, it means no one is outstanding.
In Bill Snyder's case, that does not always hold true. Starting in the early 1990s when he practically raised Kansas State's program from the grave, Snyder has consistently come up with productive winners at the key position in the game.
Now in his second season after a three-year retirement, the 32nd and 34th coach in Kansas State history again finds himself with a challenge. He's moving with customary caution while deciding among Carson Coffman, Collin Klein and Sammuel Lamur for the quarterback job.
Coffman may have a slight edge since he started four games last year before giving way to Grant Gregory, a sixth-year senior who had transferred as a graduate student.
Players like Jonathan Beasley, Michael Bishop, Ell Roberson and Chad May never went on to start in the Pro Bowl. But Snyder was able to hone their skills and burnish their talents, and package it all into an effective attack that took the once-woeful Wildcats to 11 straight bowl games.
"I would say that when we take the reps, Carson takes the first rep, Collin takes the second rep and Sammuel takes the third," Snyder said. "We aren't going to invest that kind of repetition unless there is a belief that they are on an equal stage and will remain competitive for the spot."
Whoever winds up under center will not be the hub of the offense. That job falls to Daniel Thomas, the Big 12's leading rusher in 2009. Though hampered by a sore shoulder that he hurt on the last play of the season opener, Thomas wound up with 1,265 yards, the fourth-largest harvest in school history. The rugged 6-2, 228-pounder got this year's preseason nod as Big 12 offensive player of the year.
Thomas proclaims himself "100 percent."
"I think the sky is the limit for us," Thomas said. "We have a lot of playmakers on offense so I think we can be as good as we want to be."
Thomas' consistency and toughness has made him popular with teammates.
"I think he's the best running back in the Big 12," said Coffman.
Four of the five starting offensive linemen who helped open holes for Thomas are back. But the loss is a big one — all-conference left tackle Nick Stringer.
The bad news is the departure of Brandon Banks, the 5-foot-6 dynamo who tied for the national lead last year with four kickoff return touchdowns.
Altogether, the Wildcats return five starters on offense and seven on defense. The returning players have a better idea of what to expect from Snyder, who came out of retirement to replace Ron
Prince, the man who was fired three years after replacing him.
"I just feel like we have a better grasp of how this program's going to be run," said center Wade Weibert. "We have a good idea of what coach Snider wants from us
Defensively, the strength may lie in the secondary. Returning are Tysyn Hartman, Emmanuel Lamur and Troy Butler. Hartman suffered a knee inju
"I think he's the best running back in the Big 12."
CARSON COFFMAN Senior quaterback
this season. Davis had 23 sacks in two years in junior college and his loss could hurt.
"We need to come together," said Lamur. "But the whole defense has room to improve. We are a team, so it is not just the defensive line
ry in the season-ending loss to Nebraska but had a team-leading five interceptions.
Adam Davis, a defensive end who starred last year at Hutchinson Community College, was being counted on to shore up the line. But a disk problem will require surgery and sideline him
or the linebackers or the secondary. We all have areas we can improve."
Various projections have the Wildcats picked anywhere from third to sixth in the Big 12 North following last year's 6-6 campaign.
Snyder said he's equally uncertain how things may turn out.
“Teams are different year-in and year-out,” he said. “They're always going to be different, no matter what. You can have all of them back or none of them back. Things are always going to be different.”