No. 24 Baylor left Manhattan with a hard-earned four-set win Sunday afternoon, outlasting Kansas State in a match that swung back and forth before the Bears took over late at Morgan Family Arena.
The Bears had to survive a pair of extended opening sets just to get to the break even, then steadied themselves after a shaky start to the third and finished the job with authority. Baylor won the first set 33-31, dropped the second 30-28, then pulled away 25-20 and 25-13 to close out the Wildcats.
Ksenia Rakhmanchik drove the entire afternoon. She opened the match with the first kill and never cooled off, finishing with 32 kills and 10 digs for a double-double.
That total tied her career high, marked the most by any Big 12 player in a single match this season and made her just the fourth player in Baylor history to post multiple 30-kill matches. It was also the 24th 30-kill match in program history.
Baylor got plenty of help around her, too. Bailey Warren added 14 kills and hit .294, while Isabela Haggard ran the offense with 49 assists. Morgan Madison led the back line with 26 digs.
Kansas State made the Bears work from the start. The Wildcats and Baylor traded points throughout a tight opening set, with Baylor holding a slim 15-14 edge at the media timeout.
The Bears built a 4-0 burst after the break, but Kansas State kept hanging around and even overturned a point on challenge that would have given Baylor a 29-28 lead. The set kept stretching until Baylor finally edged it 33-31.
The Wildcats answered in the second. Kansas State opened an 11-6 lead before Baylor ripped off six straight points to tie it at 12, with Rakhmanchik delivering a key kill in the run. Both teams fought off set points as the frame pushed beyond 25, but a late Baylor service error and attack error gave Kansas State the set 30-28 and tied the match.
Baylor’s response in the third set changed the tone. The Bears fell behind by as many as five before a Kansas State service error and timely kills from Haggard and Rakhmanchik sparked a 4-0 run to level the score at 13.
A Baylor block from Haggard helped fuel an 8-2 surge that put the Bears in control. Baylor moved ahead 20-15 and finished the set 25-20.
From there, the fourth set belonged to Baylor. The Bears kept pressing, built an eight-point cushion and went to the media timeout up 15-7.
Warren, Rakhmanchik and Davis all came through with kills as Baylor kept Kansas State from mounting a comeback, and the match ended on a Wildcats attack error. Baylor closed the set 25-13.
The win evened the series with Kansas State at 31-31 and snapped Baylor’s three-match losing streak. The Bears improved to 14-8 overall and 6-6 in the Big 12.
Rakhmanchik’s 32 kills were the most by any Big 12 player this season, and she extended her streak of double-digit kill matches to 31 straight. She also eclipsed 20 kills for the sixth straight match and the eighth time this season.
Haggard finished with 49 assists, 13 digs and a pair of solo blocks, marking at least 39 assists for the 13th time in the last 14 matches. Lacy Tinnell added seven kills on a .545 hitting percentage with five block assists.
Baylor finished with nine service aces and 11 total blocks. The Bears were especially sharp in the fourth set, hitting .423 and committing just one attack error on 26 swings.
Next up, Baylor returns home to host No. 9 BYU for Faith and Family Night on Thursday at 7 p.m.
CT in the Ferrell Center. The match will stream on ESPN+.
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