After a weekend that saw the K-State Wildcats beat UMass 37-7 in football and upset No. 23 California in volleyball, two student athletes earned Big 12 weekly honors for their performances.
Kip Daily, a senior cornerback for the football team, was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after grabbing two interceptions in the game against UMass. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman setter Katie Brand was awarded the Big 12 Rookie of the Week for volleyball after winning three of the team’s four matches in the week.
Daily had a coming out party of sorts against the Minutemen on Saturday. Not only did he have two interceptions, but took one of them back 38 yards for the game’s first touchdown.
“We talk all of the time about non-offensive touchdowns and how much they sway a game and how they give us momentum,” senior safety Ty Zimmerman said after the game. “Kip did a great job of jumping that route and taking the ball to the end zone. That gave us a lot of momentum.”
Daily, who also had six tackles in Saturday’s game, became the first Wildcat since Allen Chapman to have a multi-interception game. Chapman hauled in three picks against Oklahoma State last season in Manhattan.
Daily returns to his home state in Week 4 to face the Texas Longhorns in the Wildcats’ Big 12 opener.
“We are very ready to go,” Daily said. “I will just leave it at that.”
For her spectacular play over the past seven days, Brand was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week.
Brand is the
youngest starter on the 9-1 Wildcats, but her play has been solid throughout the
season. Last week in the Wildcat’s four games, Brand averaged nearly 10 assists
and almost three digs per set. She was the only freshman in the Big 12 to average
more than nine assists and two digs, and currently sits at number four in the Big 12
in total assists.
Brand has been a steady player for the Wildcats, posting a
team high six double-doubles so far this season, three of which came last week.
Brand, a native of Grand Island, Neb., is the first Wildcat to earn Big 12
Rookie of the Week honors since Kaitlynn Pelger was given the award in 2010.
The Wildcats have the week off to practice and recuperate before heading back
out on the road to Arkansas to play in the Razorback Invitational Sept. 20
and 21.