Sept. 7, 2016 Seminole Tournament Notes 
By John Shellenberger
Baylor Bear Foundation
Second-year head coach Ryan McGuyre will return to his old stomping grounds when the Baylor volleyball team (4-3) faces 13th-ranked Florida State (3-1) at 5 p.m. CDT Thursday in the opening game at the Seminole Tournament in Tallahassee, Florida.
After his two-year stint as the Seminoles' associate head coach, this will be the first time McGuyre has been back to Tallahassee to face his former team. He says confidence and proper preparation are the keys in facing challenging, nationally ranked opponents.
"Coach (Chris) Poole and I talk all the time about our families, our wives, our lives and volleyball," said a grinning McGuyre. "He does a good job attracting the right teams for his tournaments. He brings goods teams in that are going to both challenge you and make you better."
The Bears are hoping to build on the momentum created from a sweep of CSU Bakersfield after opening last weekend's Thunderdome Classic in Santa Barbara, Calif., with a pair of disappointing losses.
"We learned quite a bit from the California trip.," McGuyre said. "We know there are areas that we've been focused on that we haven't reached some of these benchmarks yet - serving, serve-receive, siding out. . . We've recognized rotations that we've got to make better decisions in, and I thought we did that in the third match (against Bakersfield).
"We've had a couple of matches this year that we've been controlling the set that we didn't close out ... I was excited to see the results from the (CSU) Bakersfield match. Obviously, we swept them, but the second and third sets were two-point sets, and we did the right things there at the end."
Juniors Camryn Freiberg and Kaite Staiger know that it isn't how you lose but how you respond to the loss.
"Anytime you lose, you learn something," Staiger said. "For me, I saw how much potential we have. Those were good teams we lost to, but definitely teams we could have and should have beaten."
"You have to be a student of the game," Freiberg said. "I think for me, that's what I've been trying to improve on - not just doing whatever I want, but studying the other team and learning from the players around me."
Staiger says she is confident in her preparation for the Bears' matchup against Florida State, which is coming off a 3-1 loss to No. 6 Minnesota. McGuyre seems to have the same confidence in Staiger, who ranks second nationally with 5.61 kills per set.
"She's jumping higher than ever before, she's hitting harder than ever before, and I think she's more comfortable playing than ever before," McGuyre said. "She really does a good job of seeing the block."
Baylor will face Arkansas-Little Rock (2-5) at 10 a.m. CDT and close out the Seminole Tournament with a matchup against Florida A&M (2-4) at 6 p.m. CDT Friday.
Thursday's match against Florida State will be broadcast by ACC Network Extra and streamed live at WatchESPN.com.
WACO, Texas - Baylor volleyball (4-3) crosses to the east coast, travelling to Tallahassee, Fla., for the Home2 Suites Tallahassee Seminole Invitational, hosted by Florida State and Florida A&M, with Little Rock rounding out the four-team field.
The Bears open the tournament on Thursday night, facing the hosting Florida State Seminoles (3-1) at 6 p.m. ET.
Friday's schedule includes an 11 a.m. meeting with the Little Rock Trojans (2-5) at FSU's campus before making the quick trip across town to close out the evening with a 7:30 p.m. match against the co-hosting Florida A&M Rattlers.
The Bears have lost both previous matchups with FSU, but were victorious in the lone previous meeting with Florida A&M. Baylor also holds a 2-1 edge in the all-time series with the Trojans, formerly designated as UALR.
Fans can listen to Baylor's internet radio stream on this and all other Baylor road trips at BaylorBears.com/allaccess. Keep up with the team all season long by following Baylor Volleyball's official accounts on Twitter (@BaylorVball), Facebook (Baylor Volleyball), Instagram (@BaylorVolleyball), and Snapchat (@BaylorVball).
MATCH INFO:
2016 Home2 Suites Tallahassee Seminole Volleyball Invitational
Tully Gymnasium (1,162) | FSU (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Al Lawson Center (9,639) | FAMU (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Sep. 8-9, 2016
Audio: BaylorBears.com (Paid)
Live Stats: Seminoles.com | FAMUAthletics.com
TV: ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.com (FSU match-only)
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 8
Baylor at #13 Florida State 6:00 p.m. ET
Friday, Sept. 9
Baylor vs. Little Rock (at FSU) 11:00 a.m. ET
Baylor at Florida A&M 7:00 p.m. ET
BAYLOR BEARS
2015 Record: 17-13
2016 Record: 4-3
Head Coach: Ryan McGuyre (2nd season)
FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
2015 Record: 25-8
2016 Record: 3-1
Head Coach: Chris Poole (9th season)
All-Time Series: FSU, 2-0
LITTLE ROCK TROJANS
2015 Record: 14-14
2016 Record: 2-5
Head Coach: Van Compton (29th season)
All-Time Series: Baylor, 2-1
FLORIDA A&M RATTLERS
2015 Record: 8-21
2016 Record: 2-4
Head Coach: Tanio Trifonov (15th season)
All-Time Series: Baylor, 1-0
#SicEm
