K-State defeated Weber State 3-1 on Friday, improving the Wildcats’ record to 5-0 this season — the best start under Jason Mansfield since 2022. 

Despite starting down 7-4, four straight kills helped K-State take the lead on a 6-0 run, going up 10-7. After some back-and-forth, Emerson Van Lannen served two straight aces to give the visiting Wildcats a 19-13 lead. K-State then finished the set on a 6-2 run, closing it out with a Camdyn Stucky ace to mark the fourth set win on an ace this year.

“Our offense got enough kills in each set to give us some separation, and I thought Emerson [Van Lannen] and Camdyn [Stucky] set a really good match,” Mansfield said. 

The first set continued K-State’s season-long story of productivity on both sides, with the team hitting .235 collectively and holding Weber State to a .000 hitting percentage while staying stout defensively.

The second set was the same song, second verse. Weber State jumped out to an early 5-3 lead, but K-State went on a 7-2 run to take the lead and never looked back. Star freshmen Addison Massey and Skylar Brady, who each totaled five kills in the second set, led the ‘Cats to a 25-19 set victory. The second-set win was K-State’s 10th straight, the most since winning 12 straight sets at the beginning of last season.

Reese Resmer started the third set with a solo block, but the momentum didn’t hold for long, as Weber State went on a 5-0 run to take an early lead. Both teams traded points until Weber State held a 17-12 advantage over the ‘Cats. K-State, however, answered with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 18 apiece. 

The third set remained close until the final points, but Weber State put together two straight kills to close out the set 27-25. 

To start the fourth set, both teams picked up where they left off, trading points to a 6-6 tie, before K-State went on a 5-0 run, led in large part by Ellah Derrer. The ‘Cats weren’t done there, as Brady tallied two consecutive kills to bring the score to 17-10. K-State finished the fourth set with two different 3-0 stretches, highlighted by Brady’s fifth kill of the frame, helping K-State close out the match with a 3-1 victory.

Massey and Brady were the key performers offensively, as Massey led the way with a new season-high 17 kills, followed closely by Brady’s 15 kills. Fuka Sekita led the backline with 18 digs, as the senior libero has now had 10 or more digs in every match this season. K-State out-dug Weber State by 17 overall. 

“Gritty road win against a very well-coached team tonight,” Mansfield said. “Defense played great against a really good, balanced offensive team. To out-dig them by 17 is what we have to do in matches like this. But we made too many attacking errors to feel good about tonight’s performance overall. We’ll learn from it and grow from it; it’s always good to figure out how to win when things aren’t going well.” 

K-State looks to extend its undefeated start at 3 p.m. on Sunday against an 0-6 Nevada team. The match will be available on the Mountain West Network.