No. 15 VB Falls in Five Sets to No. 18 Kansas

Friday, October 3

Waco, Texas

7PM

Baylor

9-4,4-1Big 12

Kansas

11-7,2-2Big 12

Kansas

Baylor

No. 15 VB Falls in Five Sets to No. 18 Kansas

10/3/2025 10:52:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

Friday was BU’s first regular-season home loss in over a year

By: Matt Roberts

WACO, Texas – No. 15 Baylor volleyball suffered its first home loss of the season on Friday night, falling 3-2 in a five-set battle to No. 18 Kansas inside the Ferrell Center.

The loss snapped the Bears' 15-match regular-season home winning streak and marked the first time this year Baylor was unable to close out a match after winning the opening set.

Baylor came out strong, using a balanced offensive effort to claim the opener, 25-19. Ksenia Rakhmanchik and Bailey Warren found early success at the net with four kills each as BU hit .438 as a team.

The Jayhawks responded, capitalizing on Baylor miscues to pull even with a 25-19 win. Kansas used seven team blocks in the frame to frustrate the Bears' hitters and even the match at 1-1.

Momentum swung in Kansas' favor as the Jayhawks dominated the third set, 25-13. Baylor struggled offensively, hitting -.111, while Kansas used six kills from Reese Ptacek to take control of the match.

Facing elimination, Baylor showed resilience and delivered a thrilling 27-25 victory to extend the match. Down by as many as seven midway through the set and facing an uphill climb at 23-18, BU rallied on a 9-2 run as Victoria Davis hammered home the final point to send the contest to a decisive fifth frame. The junior middle blocker was proud of the grit the team showed late in the fourth set to extend the match.

"I feel like our team is full of fighters," she said. "We really want what we want, and we want to win. We want to play our best and want to do everything it takes to do that. So I feel like being able to come back and be able to get that chance at a fifth set was really good to see, but now we know exactly what we need to work on. I know everyone's going to go back and watch that game and really take notes and get ready for our next practice and be ready for when we're able to come at it again next week."

The Bears grabbed an early lead in the race to 15, but Kansas went on a run of its own, using an 8-2 spurt to go up 11-8. Baylor got back within a point at 14-13, but Katie Dalton slammed the door for Kansas with a kill and the 15-13 win.

Rakhmanchik posted her second-career double-double with a team-high 14 kills and 11 digs, while Davis matched her with 14 kills on an efficient .355 hitting percentage to lead the Bears' attack. Harley Kreck set a new career high with 42 assists to go along with nine digs, as Morgan Madison led the way in that department with 14.

With the loss, Baylor moves to 9-4 on the season and 4-1 in Big 12 play, while Kansas improves to 11-7 overall and 2-2 in conference.

The Bears will return to the road for a two-match swing through Arizona, beginning with a showdown against No. 8 Arizona State on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. CT. ESPN+ will have live coverage, with stats available at BaylorBears.com/stats.

Single-game tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at Baylorbears.com. Follow @BaylorVball on X, Instagram and Facebook for additional updates.

—Baylorbears.com—