K-State volleyball came back from the brink of a sweep to win 3-2 against UCF on Thursday night, with Addison Massey’s 22 kills and Sydney Maue’s career-high 12 kills leading the way.
UCF immediately threw haymakers, opening the game with a 6-0 run. Sophomore libero Alexa Haley led the charge with two service aces, prompting head coach Jason Mansfield to call K-State’s first timeout of the set.
The Wildcats clawed back, closing the gap to 7-9, with Massey responsible for four of K-State’s seven points. UCF responded with another 9-1 run to leap to an 18-8 lead, ending on the Golden Knights’ fifth service ace of the set. Mansfield called his final timeout of the first set to stop the run.
UCF was firing on all cylinders early, taking advantage of a slow start from the ‘Cats. Redshirt senior setter Abby Schomers was the key factor, totaling four assists in UCF’s final six points to win the first set 25-18, ending with Avah Armour’s third kill of the set. The Golden Knights capitalized on K-State’s seven errors in the first set, four coming from Skylar Brady.
Riding the momentum from set one, the Golden Knights stormed out to a quick 8-1 lead to start the second set, with four of those points coming from K-State errors. The Wildcats were able to go on their own mini 3-0 run, with setter Lauren Latham being aggressive and going for the kill on the second hit. UCF responded with a few points off Sasha Cohen and Nygeria Hart before K-State went on another 6-1 run to cut the Golden Knight lead to one point, 14-13.
The game continued to be tight, as the ‘Cats tied the second set at 19 apiece after an Ellah Derrer kill. Reese Resmer made her name known when she hammered down a vicious front-row kill to give K-State its first lead of the game.
A service error killed the momentum, however, sparking a 5-1 UCF run. Kiki Horne spearheaded the run with two kills before a solo block from Ella Chapman won the Golden Knights the second set, 25-22. Horne and Armour each had six kills in the first two sets, giving UCF a 2-0 set lead.
The Wildcats had much better luck to start the third set, scoring early off two digs from senior libero Fuka Sekita. K-State and UCF traded every other point until the Wildcats scored three straight to go ahead 15-12. Horne took over after the 15-point media timeout with three kills, propelling UCF to a 6-1 run to lead 18-16.
Massey played a major role after the UCF run with three kills in K-State’s next six points, keeping the Wildcats in the game at 22-22.
“She [Massey] is just being aggressive all the time, and she’s so good at responding to mistakes,” Mansfield said. “She’s never too high, she’s never too low.”
Brady and Maue threw in their contributions, with both getting a kill to knot the game at 24-24. Brady tallied another kill, and UCF committed an attacking error, bringing the Wildcats from the brink of being swept to a third-set victory, 26-24.
Set four was all K-State, with the ‘Cats rocketing out to a 9-4 lead off the back of three kills from Maue. They didn’t stop there, as setter Latham got aggressive and caught the Knights’ defense off guard with a quick dump across the net, starting a 9-2 Wildcats run. Whether through UCF errors, blocks or aces, K-State did not slow down, going on a 4-1 run after UCF broke up the 9-2 run the ‘Cats went on right before.
The Golden Knights showed some signs of life, getting a couple of kills from Cohen and Horne. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough to get them back into the set, as an ace from Derrer and a Latham kill sealed the fourth set for K-State, 25-13.
Latham showed up and showed out in the fourth set, with multiple key kills. She was a massive presence offensively and defensively, helping the ‘Cats score and being a big part of the defense that held UCF to a .059 hitting percentage in the fourth set.
K-State entered their first set five of the season with the potential to pull off the reverse sweep in their Big 12 opener. Trading jabs to start, UCF took an early 5-3 lead off a kill from Horne before the Wildcats took control, going on a 9-1 run.
No individual player shined, as K-State forced multiple errors and spread the ball around for three kills from three separate Wildcats, along with two aces from Emerson Van Lannen. UCF fought back, cutting the deficit to 13-10 on a 5-1 run, with a kill from Horne and a block from Armour.
The stars of the game took matters into their own hands afterward, as Massey and Maue recorded kills to end the game, solidifying the reverse sweep and enormous comeback. Maue compiled a career-high 12 kills, while Massey continued her dominance with 22 kills. Latham was an unsung hero, adding three kills on top of 20 assists.
“Lauren just continues to just be so steady,” Mansfield said. “I’m so impressed with how she has played in matches after obviously not playing very much last year.”
Errors were key in this game. Both teams had 26 attacking errors, but the deciding factor was UCF having 16 service errors to K-State’s nine.
The Wildcats will look to keep their hot start going at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, when they host Fort Riley Day at Morgan Family Arena against Houston on ESPN+.
