Box Score

WACO, Texas - Baylor volleyball (20-8, 8-4 Big 12) took a three-set sweep over the West Virginia Mountaineers (12-15, 3-10 Big 12), 25-17, 25-21, 25-23, Saturday afternoon in the Ferrell Center.

Baylor eclipsed a number of milestones with the win, including the first 20-win season since 2012 and the first eight-win season in conference play since 2010.

The Bears have also locked in a .500 or better finish in Big 12 play for the first time since 2009, when Baylor finished 11-9 in conference and went on to the Sweet 16.

In set one, the Bears cruised by the Mountaineers, jumping out to a seven-point lead at 18-11. BU used a kill from Ashley Fritcher and forced a WVU attack error to close out the frame and take the 1-0 lead.

In the second, Baylor saw a four-point lead at 15-11 cut down, with WVU taking a one-point lead as late as 19-18. The Bears responded, mounting a 7-2 run to close out the set and go up 2-0.

In the final set, neither team led by more than two points throughout the entire set, with a WVU block tying the set at 23-23 late in the frame.

Back-to-back kills from Camryn Freiberg and Aniah Philo finished off the sweep, giving BU the 3-0 match victory.

HIGHLIGHTS
- Baylor swept the season series with WVU for the second-straight season, having won the last four matchups between the teams.
- Katie Staiger (561 kills) passed Tisha Schwartz (554, 2003) for the No. 7 spot on Baylor's single-season kills list.
- Jana Brusek (473 digs) bumped past Brenda Kunz (465, 1993) for the No. 9 spot on Baylor's single-season digs list.
- Baylor had four hitters with .375 or better attack rates: Camryn Freiberg, .450 (9-0-20); Katie Staiger, .424 (18-4-33); Nicole Thomas, .429 (4-1-7); Ashley Fritcher, .375 (5-2-8).

QUOTE OF THE MATCH
"We talked defense. Defense for us has always been tough serves, well-formed blocks, digs, and even kills, and in the second set, the serve was the difference. It almost hurt us, we had some missed serves towards the end in the third set, and it kept them alive. We've got to stay great at serving and passing, TCU serves really great in their gym there. It's loud, so we have to work on communicating within the plays with that eye contact and the hand signals. To go deep in postseason, we have to be able to make plays and adjustments." -Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre

STAT OF THE DAY
6 - the number of kills for Camryn Freiberg in the third and final set, securing two-thirds of her total kill total in the last frame

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor heads into the penultimate week of the regular season, trekking to TCU on Wednesday, Nov. 16 for a 7 p.m. match.

#SicEm

For the second time in the past month, Baylor volleyball (20-8, 8-4 Big 12) defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers (12-15, 3-10 Big 12) in a sweeping fashion that saw the Bears win, 25-17, 25-21 and 25-23.

Baylor once again avoided back-to-back losses, regrouping after a road loss to fifth-ranked Texas to control Saturday's home match in a commanding way.

Led by Katie Staiger's 18 kills, Baylor guaranteed itself a .500 or better finish in conference play for the first time in seven years.

Senior setter Morgan Reed got her team off to a hot start with a service ace that would kick-start a 6-0 run and give the Bears a 13-7 lead. Thanks to some phenomenal, diving digs by Jana Brusek and Staiger, Baylor maintained control of the first set, easily defeating the Mountaineers, 25-17.

"I think something that's been encouraging on our team is putting the ball down at the first opportunity," said junior libero Jana Brusek.

For Brusek to record a match-high 14 digs, the Chicago native said her mentality was too "be really aggressive in going for (the ball), trusting the setters, trusting the passers, and trusting that the defenders will be covering them."

As commander of the defense, Brusek relies heavily on her blockers to alter the play of the opposing offense. On offense, the Bears rely on her game-changing serving.

Tied 19-19 in the second set, Brusek's serves set up for two Staiger spikes, a Camryn Freiberg and Ashley Fritcher block and an ace that would extend Baylor's lead to 23-20.

"Really to finish off the second set, Jana's serve did it for us," head coach Ryan McGuyre said. "We talked defense, and defense for us has always been tough serves, well-formed blocks and digs that equal kills. In that second set, the serve was the difference."

The Bears found themselves in a similar situation in the third set, only this time it was Freiberg's individual performance that would ensure Baylor's victory.

With her team trailing 19-20, Freiberg rattled off three kills mixed in between a Staiger kill and service ace to scrape out the third-set win, 25-23, and close out the match.

"We know, to win the big matches , we've got to trust," McGuyre said. "Katie was good and she was doing good things for us, but we've got to keep other people involved. We didn't stress Camryn's name, but we were saying, `we're getting predictable, we've got to trust some of the things we're working on.' It's easier to trust when you have the results you want, but we've got to trust first and then those results come."

A sweeping victory that pushes the Bears' win tally into the 20's is certainly the result they wanted today, but they are already focused on the results of the upcoming match against TCU.

"We take games game-by-game," said Brusek. "We want to make sure the next team on our schedule is the most important game. And that we're learning from any mistakes, any film, anything that we've done in the past to get ready for the future. We're definitely focused on what's ahead and not looking too far back in the past."

With only four games left in the regular season, Baylor sits in third place in the Big 12 behind Texas and Kansas. After two road games, the Bears will face their final two opponents at the Ferrell Center. Baylor plays TCU for the second time this season at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Fort Worth after sweeping the Horned Frogs in Waco.