By Larry Little
Baylor Bear Foundation

LOS ANGELES - Baylor volleyball's improbable 2016 season came to an end Saturday night as the Bears dropped a straight-set match (25-21, 25-20, 25-20) to eighth-ranked UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Picked to finish seventh in the nine-team Big 12 Conference, Baylor (22-12) tied Kansas State for fourth in the league standings, one game behind third-place Iowa State, with a 9-7 conference record. The Bears earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2011 and reached the tournament's second round for the first time since 2009 and only the third time in program history.

However, Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA (26-6) avenged a second-round loss to Baylor from 2009, and the Bruins advanced to a regional semifinal for the third straight season and the 13th time since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1998.

"I'm so proud of this team," Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre said. "The number of wins, the battles, the five-set victories we've had. From Morgan Reed's maturity to Jana Brusek's consistency, just the growth we've had. It's a special team for me because I've learned. They've inspired me."

Baylor enjoyed its 2016 run despite being without two starters all season due to injury and losing a third to a season-ending injury in the conference opener.

"I've caught myself being discouraged at times," McGuyre said. "When you see their resiliency, and you see them getting back in the gym, going hard, it makes me make sure we're giving them our best as a staff. It was fun as a staff this year and it was tiring, but these girls are fun to be around."

Aniah Philo continued her stellar offensive production with 16 kills against UCLA, hitting at a .316 percentage. It was Philo's ninth double-figure kills total in the last 11 matches and equaled her career high, established last season when she was at Louisville. Philo had 14 kills in Baylor's first-round victory over 14th-ranked San Diego.

"She swung like an animal," McGuyre said of Philo. "It's good when you see players play their best in championship moments."

Katie Staiger tallied 14 kills, eight digs and four blocks. She finished the season with 698 kills, two shy of the Big 12 single-season record established by Texas A&M's Laura Jones in 2004. Reed collected 37 assists and 10 digs.

"Katie held us together, and Morgan was really the MVP for our team these past two matches," McGuyre said. "UCLA is a great team. There's a reason they were the No. 10 seed in the tournament. They have a lot of fire power. We slowed them down at times, but our transition game wasn't terminal enough."

Baylor trailed 9-8 in the first set before the Bruins pulled away with a 6-1 run. The Bears eventually got back within a point at 18-17 thanks to a 5-0 run and eventually tied the opener, 20-20. But a service ace and three Torrey Van Winden kills gave the Bruins set point. Philo stemmed the tide with a kill, but Claire Felix closed the set with a kill.

In the second set, Baylor built a 7-5 lead, but again the Bruins put together a run and took control of the set. This time, it was five straight points, and the Bears never again got within three points in the set. Set three was an intense battle, with neither team leading more than two points until Reily Buechler's kill gave the Bruins a 22-19 edge. The Bears never again got within two points, and Buechler closed the match with her 13th kill. Van Winden finished with 12 kills and nine digs.

UCLA hit .261 (45 kills, 15 errors, 115 attempts) and held Baylor to a .205 clip (43-18-122). Statistically, though, the biggest difference was at the service line, where the Bears committed seven errors with one ace. The Bruins committed only one service error and had five aces, including four alone from libero Taylor Formico.

"Offensively, we sided out at times, we had a lot of kills," McGuyre said. "But between a few missed serves and service errors, that's your two- or three-point spread that has you playing from behind."

Staiger, who will be a fifth-year senior next season, credited McGuyre for the program's current upward trajectory.

"I'm excited for next year to keep this growth going," she said. "The sky is going to be the limit. It stinks to lose, but we're already thinking, 'How can we get to where we can host next year? What do we need to do?' But it was an incredible season. This group of people that God put on this team, it was incredible how He worked and brought us this far."

Baylor must replace departing seniors Reed (setter) and Alex Banister (defensive specialist), but the Bears should have a full cupboard of talent with the return of Staiger, Philo, Brusek, Freiberg, Ashley Fritcher and Nicole Thomas, all of whom were regular starters this season.

The Bears also will regain the services of 2015 Freshman All-Big 12 selection Shelly Fanning, as well as middle hitters Tola Itiola and Jaelyn Jackson-all would-have-been starters who sustained season-ending injuries this year. Not to mention other returning players and a strong incoming freshman class.

"Disappointment is usually the start of a great journey, not the end," McGuyre said. "We were disappointed when Shelly was hurt, when Tola was hurt, when Jaelyn was hurt. We can hold onto the hope that it's not the end, it's the beginning. We learned something about ourselves this year as we learned to battle and fight. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. We'll know how to work hard, and we're going to get some great talent."