K-State Falls in Straight Sets to No. 23 Utah

Saturday, October 3

Manhattan, Kan.

6:30 p.m.

Kansas State University

9-3,1-3Big 12

Utah

11-4,3-1Big 12

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Utah	25	25	25	3
Kansas St.	20	15	23	0

Box Score (PDF)

Oct 03, 2026 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State fell to No. 23 Utah in three sets, 20-25, 15-25, 23-25, on Saturday night at Morgan Family Arena.

Utah (11-4, 3-1 Big 12) hit at a .412 clip (45 kills, 10 errors, 85 attempts), led by 11 kills from both Devyn Wiest and Kamryn Gibadlo. The Utes limited K-State (9-3, 1-3 Big 12) to a .211 hitting percentage (33 kills, 14 errors, 90 swings) in its first three-set loss of the season, as Utah's defense held a 32-24 advantage in dig production.

FROM THE CATS
JASON MANSFIELD, K-STATE HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"Yeah, congrats to Utah. Really well-coached team. They have good experience at the pins, especially. [Gibadlo] is one of the best outsides in our conference, and [Wiest] was exceptional. [Ashley West] is a great player as well. Their pins, [Loryn Helgesen] as well, just kind of tore us apart. We're really struggling to kind of slow down outside and right side attackers, and that's the case again tonight. But proud of our fight in the third to try to take it to the fourth set, but just a little too much offense for them tonight."

On the slow starts in Big 12 sets…
"Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we're trying to figure it out. We're certainly talking about it, a lot. There are good things in some of the sets that we're playing early, and then I just think we're just getting outplayed. I don't think there's a lot of tactics that we're not doing well. I think that the other team is just outplaying us. Maybe their scouting report is a little bit better, but really, we're struggling to score the ball, and we're struggling to slow down the other team, and that's just a recipe for disaster. And that's certainly the case again tonight."

On keeping the third set close and the team's potential in future Big 12 games…
"We fought in every match that we played. Certainly, won sets and had to fight and win by two points. So yeah, I think it just shows the character of this team. I expect that. I mean, certainly we're not trying to go down 0-1 or 0-2, but I'm not surprised that we had some fight. In that third, we were down by quite a bit and went on a nice run there."

On using the next two road games to prepare for KU at home…
"Two tough teams. Starting with Iowa State and Colorado is going to be tough as well. Both teams play well at home; both have a lot of veterans on their team. Really good older players. So I've watched them play quite a bit this year, and they're going to be tough. Different environments, but we just got to take each match and try to figure out how to prepare them and how to have a good week of practice and get back to just improving. I thought we improved this week, so it was disappointing to go 0-2, even against two ranked teams, and we showed glimpses certainly in both matches. But we just need to be more consistent. We're just trying to also search for a lineup."

On Skylar Brady's performance tonight…
"Skylar is a really good blocker for us. She makes really good block moves, has really strong hands. So if you hit it low versus her, she's going to make you pay. She's kind of shown this season in every match that she's played that she's very capable of slowing down opposites and middle blockers that are running slides, so definitely a big deal for what we're trying to do defensively is slow down their pins. We just need more people to do that."

SET-BY-SET
Set 1 – #23 Utah 25, K-State 20

Highlighted by six strong serves from Reagan Fox, K-State scored seven consecutive points to take an 11-5 advantage.
Utah overcame the deficit behind a 7-1 scoring run to level the score, 12-12, before taking the lead after scoring four of seven.
Tied 16-16, Utah pieced together a 9-4 closing run to grab Set 1.
Addison Massey led all players in Set 1 with seven kills (.455), while Utah out-hit K-State, .379-.194 with 15 total kills (4 errors, 29 attempts).

Set 2 – #23 Utah 25, K-State 15

The Utes erased a four-point deficit and scored 15 straight points to take an 17-6 advantage over the Wildcats, a run that included a pair of kills and three aces by Gibadlo.
Utah hit at a .462 clip (14 kills, 2 errors, 26 attempts) in Set 2, while limiting K-State to a .088 hitting percentage (7 kills, 4 errors, 34 swings) with the help of a 19-9 advantage in dig production.

Set 3 – #23 Utah 25, K-State 23

The two squads went back-and-forth before Utah grabbed the first substantial lead of the set, 15-11.
Led by back-to-back kills from Brady and Avery Stones, K-State pulled within two, 19-17, before two straight kills from West shifted momentum back to the Utes.
Trailing, 24-18, the Wildcats fought off match-point five times to bring the set within one, but Gibadlo's 11^th kill delivered the final blow.

INSIDE THE BOX

Utah defeated the Wildcats in straight sets – 25-20, 25-15, 25-23.
K-State hit at a .211 clip (33 kills, 14 errors, 90 swings), while Utah had a .412 hitting percentage (45 kills, 10 errors, 85 attempts).
Massey led all players with 13 kills and hit .478 to go along with a team-high six digs.
Both squads were evenly matched with four blocks, while Brady produced a match-high three.
Emerson Van Lannen dished out 20 assists.
Utah had a 32-24 advantage in dig production and an 8-4 edge in service aces, led by a match-high six from Gibadlo.
Utah's Gibadlo and Wiest put down 11 kills each, while libero Sierra Grizzle led the match as the only player with double-digit digs (14).

TEAM NOTES

Utah leads the all-time series 3-1, including a 1-1 record in matches played in Manhattan.
With the loss, K-State moves to 4-3 overall at home with all three losses coming in league action.
The team's .211 hitting percentage is the fourth-lowest of the season, while Utah's .412 is the highest opponent hitting percentage allowed this year.
K-State dropped to 11^th in the Big 12 standings.
In the Mansfield era, K-State is 12-20 against Top 25 teams, including a 1-2 record this year.

PLAYER NOTES

Massey turned in her eighth straight match with 10 or more kills, totaling a 10-kill performance in all but one match this season.

UP NEXT
K-State will hit the road for a pair of Big 12 contests at Iowa State (9-5, 3-0 Big 12) and at No. 24 Colorado (10-3, 1-2 Big 12) on October 9 and 11. Both matches can be seen on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

– k-statesports.com –

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