By Bennett Parker | Sports Writer
Great players rise to the top when their team needs a win. In the midst of a three-game skid, sophomore outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik put together her most impressive performance of the season.
Rakhmanchik recorded 32 kills, setting the highest mark by a Big 12 player this season while also logging her third double-double of the season. The remarkable effort helped No. 24 Baylor (14-8, 6-6 Big 12) past Kansas State (11-10, 3-10 Big 12) in four sets 33-31, 28-30, 25-20, 25-13.
Rakhmanchik’s mark is only the second time a player in the Big 12 has reached 30 kills in a game this season, along with Cincinnati’s Sydney Nolan’s 30 against Arizona.
The performance marked the second-most kills by a Bear in a four-set match since 2018.
She swung efficiently, hitting .406 and tying her career-high kills total from the Bears’ first-round match against Arkansas State in 2025.
The performance began with a 15-kill performance on .565 hitting from Rakhmanchik in the first set, leading the charge in one of the closest sets of the season for the Bears. Baylor led most of the set, but it ended with 10 nail-biting set points, and the Bears finished off the Wildcats in the opener 33-31.
While Rakhmanchik received the praise for her best set of the season, sophomore libero Morgan Madison finished the set with eight digs to keep multiple long rallies alive.
The following set continued to be a grind, but the Bears lacked their usual consistency. Six service errors made up half of the 12 total errors for Baylor in the second set, allowing the Wildcats to claw back from a 22-19 deficit and tie the match with a 30-28 victory.
Rakhmanchik’s counterpart was having her own career performance for Kansas State. Addison Massey notched a season-high 25 kills on 64 swings from the right side of the net, helping the Wildcats split the first two sets.
Sophomore setter Isabela Haggard got in the mix with three straight blocks in the heart of the third set, while sophomore outside hitter Bailey Warren contributed in the final pair of sets for the Bears; she had 14 kills in the afternoon.
It was smooth sailing in third and fourth sets for Baylor, sealing off Kansas State with a 25-20 and a 25-13 win. The Bears’ broke their three-match losing streak with their first victory since Oct. 23 against Houston.
The Bears return home to host BYU at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Ferrell Center.
