With a full week off for Thanksgiving, many students will be far away from the volleyball court, both physically and mentally, plowing through turkey carcasses and pumpkin entrails seared into the form of a pie. Those who profess to be moral will try to pass off some rubbish about this holiday being a time of celebration for all the joys in life and a period of remembrance, yadda yadda yadda. Those more honest will acknowledge that the holiday is actually about gluttony for food, alcohol, laziness and sports.
Ignore those who profess to be moral; listen to those who are more honest. The former will attempt to weave life into an idealized fiction, while the latter seeks the truth and will only divulge such. And this is the truth, the cold, hard truth that stings the ear and bites the soul: the volleyball season will end concurrently with Thanksgiving break.
There are only three more matches this season, two of which are on the road. First up is Oklahoma, followed by a trip to the bleak and dreary backlands of Lawrence, and then the final home match against Colorado.
Oklahoma is doing pretty well in the conference right now. With an 11-5 record, the Sooners have dropped matches to the three best teams in the Big 12 Conference — Nebraska, Texas and Iowa State — as have most teams in this league, but walked all over everyone else; almost 50 percent of its wins have been in sweeps.
When the Wildcats head down to Oklahoma this Saturday, they will need to be on their best behavior, because the Sooners play for keeps.
On the Wednesday after that, K-State will take a short trip east on I-70 to — dare I say it? — the land of fantasy, where “students” still believe they are enrolled in an actual university and can finally win a football game that matters.
The Wildcats trampled the stuffing (Thanksgiving pun) out of the Jayhawks to kick off (Thanksgiving football pun) the season right, and this time, the odds are in favor of K-State again for another blackout (post-Thanksgiving pun). For those of you who will be in the Kansas City area, consider an evening of intense action that is only a short drive away.
Finally, on the Saturday before school resumes, K-State welcomes Colorado for Senior Night. This year’s seniors are libero Lauren Mathewson and outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm. This is the match you will not want to miss. So don’t. In the same way that a capstone project can be set by the wayside once graduation is certain, this last match of the season is guaranteed to be full-out action, as neither team has anything to lose.
So this year, with nine days to waste one’s existence and forget everything one has learned this semester before cramming it back in for finals, all K-State fans have plenty of time to share in the glory of the volleyball team’s season and cheer on its finales. Three more opportunities, three more chances for heart-stopping action, three more chances to forget that life is miserable and that we are all working 40-odd years for the five-odd of retirement.
I’ll see you at the matches.