No. 18 BYU does not need another 75-kill survival act. It needs to make Kansas State play from behind before the Wildcats can begin one of their recoveries.
The Cougars visit Kansas State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Mountain in their first Big 12 road match. ESPN+ will stream the match from Morgan Family Arena. BYU enters 9-1 after beating No. 17 Baylor in five sets; Kansas State is also 9-1 after an unbeaten nonconference run, a reverse sweep at UCF and a four-set home loss to Houston.
Both teams have already proved they can live through a messy match. Thursday should reveal which one can stop creating the mess in the first place.
BYU-Kansas State watch information
| Match detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Match | No. 18 BYU at Kansas State |
| Date | Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026 |
| First serve | 5:30 p.m. MDT / 6:30 p.m. CDT |
| Venue | Morgan Family Arena, Manhattan, Kansas |
| TV/stream | ESPN+ match stream |
| Live stats | BYU StatBroadcast hub |
| Tickets | Kansas State volleyball tickets |
| Radio | No official radio listing published |
| Permanent event page | BYU volleyball schedule |
BYU’s official event record lists 2026-10-01 at 23:30 UTC, which converts to 5:30 p.m. MDT Thursday in Utah and 6:30 p.m. CDT in Manhattan. The event is not marked TBA. BYU and Kansas State both list ESPN+.
The direct ESPN+ link may require a subscription. StatBroadcast is the verified live-stat option. Neither school’s current event listing includes a radio broadcast. The permanent schedule page will keep the event and eventual result after the stream link expires.
BYU’s serve has to arrive before Kansas State’s comeback
Brooke Hardy’s serve rescued BYU against Baylor. The freshman middle delivered six aces without an error, including the short serve that pushed a tied fifth set from 10-8 to 11-8. BYU finished with a 9-2 ace advantage and committed 10 fewer service errors than Baylor.
That phase covered for an uncomfortable defensive night. Baylor won the kill count 75-67 and hit .393 to BYU’s .313. Kelli Jo Burgess still had seven blocks, but BYU never solved Baylor’s two leading attackers for long. The Cougars won because their serve created points before Baylor could settle into an offense that was landing almost four of every 10 swings.
Kansas State has already shown why that pressure must start early. At UCF, the Wildcats fell behind 6-0 in the first set and 8-1 in the second. They lost both, then won 26-24, 25-13 and 15-10 to complete the reverse sweep. UCF committed 16 service errors to Kansas State’s nine, and the Wildcats used two Emerson Van Lannen aces during a 9-1 fifth-set run.
The comeback was real. It was also expensive. Kansas State needed five sets because it gave away the first two starts.
Houston made the Wildcats pay for the same habit three days later. Kansas State trailed 15-8 in the opening set and 10-5 in the second. It recovered enough to make the first set 25-23, then hit .458 in a dominant third. Houston answered by hitting .385 in the fourth and left Manhattan with a 3-1 win.
BYU’s cleanest route is to deny Kansas State another repair job. Hardy does not need six more aces. She and the rest of the service rotation need to move Kansas State’s first contact away from the net, take the quick middle away from the setters and turn the first five points into Wildcat high-ball swings.
A good BYU start would also protect against the part of Kansas State that gets stronger with time. The Wildcats are 9-1 in fourth sets. They have already closed a reverse sweep and taken a third set from Houston after falling behind 2-0. Letting them reach the middle of the match within one set is an invitation to play their preferred version of the night.
Addison Massey is the volume test
Kansas State’s freshman pin Addison Massey has reached double-digit kills in six straight matches and in nine of 10 this season. She scored 22 kills in the UCF comeback, then 18 against Houston. Those are not cleanup totals against a soft schedule: her run includes 20 kills and 15 digs in a four-set road win over then-No. 20 Creighton.
Massey’s role gives BYU a clearer first assignment than Baylor did. Baylor setter Isabela Haggard could spread the ball across Ksenia Rakhmanchik, Nadiya Johnson and several useful secondary options. Kansas State still has balance, but its two latest conference matches have bent toward Massey when the Wildcats needed a point.
Against Houston, Massey and Avery Stones combined for 62 swings. Massey took 37 of them. Kansas State’s next-highest kill total was Stones’ seven. Against UCF, Sydney Maue supplied a career-high 12 kills and the Wildcats received scoring from several places during the comeback, but Massey’s 22 remained the central load.
That puts Burgess and Hardy in a different kind of test. BYU does not have to chase five equally dangerous attackers on every rotation. It has to keep Kansas State from giving Massey a clean runway and then avoid releasing so hard toward her that Maue, Ellah Derrer or the setter dump gets free floor.
Burgess enters the trip leading the nation at 1.8 blocks per set. Her 63 total blocks lead the Big 12. BYU ranks 27th nationally at 2.67 blocks per set. Those numbers describe a strength, but Baylor exposed the difference between recording blocks and controlling an offense. BYU needs touches that stay playable, not a block total that looks good beside another opponent hitting above .350.
Houston supplied a useful model. The Cougars hit .342 in the first set and .345 in the second while forcing Kansas State to chase. In the fourth, Houston combined 15 kills with a 3-0 blocking edge and held the Wildcats to .138. The pressure came from both sides of the net: score before Kansas State organizes, then close the useful block when Massey receives the obvious swing.
Little Chambers needs help without losing the last ball
Claire Little Chambers finished the Baylor match with 21 kills on .450 hitting. Five of those kills came in the fifth set, and BYU went back to her for match point after Baylor cut a 14-8 lead to 14-10.
That was the right finish because BYU had spent four sets proving it was not trapped in a one-hitter offense. Elli Mortensen added 17 kills and 14 digs. Hardy scored 11 kills on .529 hitting. Sophia Callahan reached 10. Kaylie Kofe and Alex Bower split 51 assists.
The two-setter distribution matters even more on the road. Morgan Family Arena will not supply the Smith Fieldhouse lift that helped BYU through Baylor’s 39 kills in sets three and four. If Kansas State can load its floor defense toward Little Chambers early, the Cougars will have to earn every late high ball against an organized block.
BYU enters Thursday ranked seventh nationally and second in the Big 12 with a .305 team hitting percentage. That efficiency does not come from hiding the ball from Little Chambers. It comes from giving Burgess, Hardy, Mortensen and Callahan enough credible work that the opponent cannot wait on BYU’s leading pin.
Kansas State’s Houston loss also showed that its block can win a category without winning the match. The Wildcats outblocked Houston 8-7. Houston still produced 10 more kills and hit .282. BYU should be willing to use the middle and right side even after an early stuff, because shrinking toward one safe outside set would let Kansas State turn eight blocks into a larger tactical advantage.
The useful balance is simple: spread the first four rotations, keep Little Chambers out of a wall, then know where the ball belongs after 20.
The road trip gives Thursday extra weight
BYU moved from No. 22 to No. 18 after the Baylor win. Kansas State received 26 votes in the same AVCA poll, seven spots outside the Top 25. The records are identical, but the conference starts are not. BYU is 1-0; Kansas State is 1-1.
A road win would give BYU two conference results before Friday’s match at No. 19 Kansas. A loss would turn Lawrence into an immediate attempt to avoid a 1-2 league start. The Cougars have less than 24 hours between first serves, so they would rather leave Manhattan with a short match and a full rotation than another five-set escape.
Kansas State has its own urgency. The Wildcats’ 9-0 start was the second best in program history, but Houston removed the zero in their Big 12 home opener. Thursday is their chance to keep one loss from becoming a home pattern. The arena promotion is “Morgan After Dark,” and Kansas State has built the date as one of its featured home nights.
The all-time series favors BYU 5-3. The Cougars have won the last two meetings and swept Kansas State in Provo last season. That history does not solve the current matchup. Kansas State’s freshman pin has become a 20-kill threat, and BYU is coming off a win that required nine aces to survive an opponent hitting .393.
Three checks should explain the match before the final box score does:
- Does BYU’s serve force Kansas State to begin points away from the middle?
- Can Burgess and Hardy turn Massey’s high-volume swings into playable block touches?
- Does BYU keep four attackers involved before asking Little Chambers to close a set?
The Baylor recap showed that BYU can win when its best phase changes from set to set. Thursday asks for something less dramatic and more repeatable: serve Kansas State out of its early rhythm, make Massey work against a settled block and avoid giving the Wildcats two sets to discover their comeback.
The volleyball hub keeps the roster and season links together. The results page will retain the final and set score after the match.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics: No. 18 BYU visits Kansas State and No. 19 Kansas for the official stream, live stats, rankings, records, national team rankings, player production, series record and road-trip schedule.
- BYU Athletics event 25235 for the stable event ID, UTC start, scheduled status, conference designation and Morgan Family Arena listing.
- Kansas State Athletics: Houston ends the Wildcats’ winning streak for the official set scores, team totals, Massey’s streak, slow-start sequence and upcoming ESPN+ listing.
- Kansas State Collegian: Wildcats reverse-sweep UCF for independent courtside reporting on the 6-0 and 8-1 starts, five-set recovery, Massey and Maue production, service-error split and fifth-set run.
- Kansas State Athletics live-event schedule for independent confirmation of the 6:30 p.m. Central start and ESPN+ coverage.
- Kansas State Athletics: 2026 single-match promotions for the Morgan After Dark designation and ticket context.
- Kansas State University color guide for the published purple
#512888, white and gray palette used in the original matchup art. - BYU Sport Nuts: volleyball schedule, volleyball results, volleyball roster and the Baylor watch guide.
