UTRGV VAQUEROS 2015 Record: 12-19 Head Coach: Todd Lowery (2nd Season)	Friday, Aug. 26 vs. UTRGV, 6 p.m. Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas) Stats: GameTracker Video and Audio: BaylorBears.com/AllAccess
PVAMU LADY PANTHERS 2015 Record: 21-11 Head Coach: TaCho Tyler (2nd season)	Saturday, Aug. 27 vs. Prairie View A&M, 11 a.m. Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas) Stats: GameTracker Video and Audio: BaylorBears.com/AllAccess
A&M CORPUS CHRISTI ISLANDERS 2015 Record: 31-5 Head Coach: Steve Greene (1st season)	Saturday, Aug. 27 vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi, 7 p.m. Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas) Stats: GameTracker Video and Audio: BaylorBears.com/AllAccess

Tournament Central

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

With three wins over NCAA Tournament teams a year ago in Ryan McGuyre's debut season as head coach, the Baylor volleyball team flirted with its first postseason bid in four years.

Now, going into this weekend's Hampton Inn Waco North Baylor Invitational, the expectation isn't just to get there.

"I really want us to go deep in the tournament," said fourth-year junior outside hitter Katie Staiger. "I know we had the talent last year and kind of came up short. . . . I think we were one of the first four teams out. It was probably one game that we should have won that would have gotten us in. This year, we're really going in with the mentality to not just make it but make more of a statement."

McGuyre, who made it to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years as an assistant at Florida State, wants his players to get there "to see what it takes and enjoy it."

"We challenge the girls to have a motivation of permanence," he said. "The competitive ones really want to get in the tournament and go deep in the tournament. I am a competitive one. I want to get in the tournament and go deep in the tournament. . . . We want to get there. Baylor's in a great conference and the kind of school where as we keep getting better the expectation is that we're always a regular in the tournament."

Eleven of the team's 13 losses last season (17-13) came against NCAA Tournament teams, including two each against national runner-up Texas and a Kansas Final Four team. The season ended with a three-game sweep of Kansas State, one of five Big 12 teams that made it to postseason play.

"I feel like all the teams I've coached or been a part of have really played their best at the end of the year," McGuyre said. "So, to be able to have that extra couple weeks of playing could be really fun. . . . We've got to get there first, got to get that experience. The girls are anxious for it, but I think they're still playing for something bigger and more important than just the tournament."

The Bears will get tested right out of the box with a Baylor Invitational field that includes Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a 2015 NCAA Tournament team and defending Southland Conference champion that won 31 games last season. First-year head coach Steve Greene was an assistant at Texas A&M before heading up the Islanders program.

"That's a tournament team, so you have some girls that are used to winning," McGuyre said.

Baylor will open against UT-Rio Grande Valley at 7 p.m. Friday, followed by Prairie View A&M at 11 a.m. Saturday and A&M-CC at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Islanders will put their school-record 18-game regular-season winning streak on the line with a match against Prairie View at 4 p.m. Friday and will take on Rio Grande Valley at 1 p.m. Saturday, while Rio Grande Valley and Prairie View will hook up at 5 p.m. Saturday.

"If we pass well this weekend - we're so much more dynamic offensively this year and a lot less predictable - it will be fun," McGuyre said.

Part of the unpredictability of the team this weekend will be because of injuries. Senior middle Tola Itiola is out 6-8 weeks, sophomore transfer Aniah Philo from Louisville has been out with a concussion, freshman setter Braya Hunt has been limited with a pulled hamstring, redshirt freshman middle Jaelyn Jackson is dealing with a shoulder injury and sophomore middle Shelly Fanning is listed as "day-to-day" with a foot injury.

"Trying to have that comfort level of here's who our starters are going to be, here's the rotation, here's who plays next to each other, here's the sets you run to complement one another, here's who passes next to each other, it makes it more challenging," McGuyre said. "We'll be all right. Top to bottom, we have a lot more depth. We're not at the point where we've got to put liberos in the middle or anything like that, but we're getting close to that."

The tournament runs Aug. 26-27, with the first match beginning Friday at 4 p.m. in the Ferrell Center, with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi taking on Prairie View A&M.

Baylor kicks off play at 6 p.m. on Friday, facing UT Rio Grande Valley.

On Saturday, the Bears will square off with Prairie View A&M at 11 a.m., closing out tournament play later that evening at 7 p.m. with Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

BU is coming off of McGuyre's first season at the helm of the program, posting a 17-13 record.

All three games will be available to fans with a live video stream on BaylorBears.com/allaccess. Baylor fans can follow action all season long on Twitter by following @BaylorVBall.

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