Box Score Nov. 15, 2017 Box Score
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation Even though the 19th-ranked Baylor volleyball team "was a little flat" and saw its consecutive sets winning streak snapped at 16, the Bears (22-5, 12-2) knocked off Kansas State Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center to win their sixth straight Big 12 match.
Freshman Yossiana Pressley posted a career-high 24 kills, four players had double-digit digs and senior All-American Katie Staiger had nine kills in her first extensive action in a month in the Bears' 3-1 win over the Wildcats, 25-14, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19.
"The reason we had those 16 sets is everyone was dialed-in," Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre said of a streak that came up one short of the program record. "I thought tonight, we kind of rotated around - who's dialed-in, who wasn't. So, not our best overall team match, but a win's a win."
Baylor has also locked down its highest-ever finish in the Big 12 standings, sitting in second place and two wins ahead of 16th-ranked Kansas (21-6, 10-4) with only two to play. The Bears play at West Virginia on Sunday before closing out regular-season play by hosting second-ranked Texas (22-2, 14-0) at 2 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 25.
"Overall, we were a little flat tonight," McGuyre said. "We talk about how us at our best we feel like we can contend with anyone at their best. . . . We definitely were not at our worst tonight, but we were a little flat at times."
Pressley, the 6-1 freshman who has swept Big 12 Offensive and Freshman of the Week honors for three weeks running, continued her torrid pace with 24 kills, a .347 attack percentage and 10 digs for her first double-double.
"She's good, and she did it tonight when they weren't quite in their rhythm early on," McGuyre said. "That first set, it was pretty fun watching her bury some balls. She works hard, she's coachable, so that's really all there is to it."
After sitting out four matches with a stress reaction in her right foot and then playing just one set in Saturday's win at Kansas, Staiger came in midway through the second set of Wednesday's match and finished with nine kills, a .389 hitting percentage, four digs and a block.
"You don't realize how much you miss it until you can't do it," Staiger said. "It's just the biggest blessing that God has kind of healed my foot a little bit, enough to be able to come back out here. It was so exciting."
McGuyre said Staiger has been cleared to play but hasn't been able to practice in a while.
"We put her in some uncomfortable positions, things you can kind of visualize, but not necessarily things we could walk through and go at 100 percent," McGuyre said. "And she did a great, great job. Really pleased to see how aggressive she was on defense. Those are things you're afraid of getting lost if you're sitting down a little bit. Her aggressiveness, to me, was great."
Pressley had seven of her 24 kills in a first set that saw the Bears dominate, 25-14, running their consecutive sets winning streak to 16. But, that streak came to an end in the second set when Baylor hit a match-low .108 with 12 kills and eight errors in 37 swings.
"We always hope that everything is dialed-in and everything is connecting perfectly and we win clean," Staiger said. "But, even from the beginning, Coach has always been like, `Sometimes you just have to win dirty.' So, I think it was, `OK, let's just get to 25, whatever it takes.'''
Bouncing back quickly, Baylor hit .311 over the last two frames with a .722 sideout percentage to close out the match in four.
Freshman setter Hannah Lockin recorded her eighth double-double with 36 assists and a career-high 16 digs, while Aniah Philo (16), Jana Brusek and Pressley (10) also posted double-digit digs. The Bears out-dug the Wildcats, 67-53, but were out-blocked, 10.5-7.0.
Next up is a trip to Morgantown to face West Virginia (16-11, 4-9) at 1 p.m. Sunday.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas -- No. 19 Baylor volleyball (22-5, 12-2 Big 12) pushed its season-best consecutive sets winning streak to 16 before the Bears were forced to fight back from a second-set loss in a 3-1 win over Kansas State (9-18, 2-12 Big 12) Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center, 25-14, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19.
Though the Bears fell one set short of tying the program record set in 2009 with 17 consecutive sets, freshman Yossiana Pressley set a new career-high 24 kills on a .347 hitting clip and added 10 digs for her first career double-double.
Alongside her was freshman Hannah Lockin who posted her eighth double-double with 36 assists and a career-high 16 digs. Katie Staiger posted nine kills on a .389 attack effort.
BU and K-State were deadlocked at 8-8 early in the first set, but a 7-2 run fueled by Aniah Philo and Jana Brusek at the service line put BU in front at the media timeout, 15-10. A block by Shelly Fanning and Philo prompted a K-State timeout at 18-11, and BU never let the Wildcats get close in a dominant 25-14 win in set one.
Now the winner of 16 consecutive sets, BU struggled to get things going in the second frame. BU trailed at 17-12 before going on a 5-0 run with a Fanning kill to tie up the set. K-State would answer with a 5-0 run of its own en route to taking the set, 25-20.
With the match tied at 1-1, Baylor steadily build a lead behind kills from Tola Itiola, Staiger and Pressley to go up 14-7 and force a K-State timeout. BU kept its distance as it went up 2-1 with a dominant 25-16 win.
Baylor came out fast in the fourth frame, using back-to-back kills from Itiola to force a Wildcat timeout at 14-7. Pressley heated up with three consecutive kills to extend BU's lead to 15-9, and the Bears held off a late K-State run for the four-set win.
HIGHLIGHTS
- BU won its sixth-straight Big 12 match and second-straight victory over K-State Wednesday night.
- Baylor snapped a 16-set winning streak, falling one set short of tying the all-time program record set in 2009 (17).
- Yossiana Pressley earned her first career double-double with a career-high 24 kills and 10 digs.
- Hannah Lockin posted her eighth career double-double with 36 assists and a career-high 15 digs.
- Four Bears posted double-digit digs against the Wildcats (Philo, Lockin, Brusek and Pressley).
- Katie Staiger posted nine kills with a .389 attack percentage.
- BU is now 3-0 against the Wildcats in Waco under head coach Ryan McGuyre.
- Baylor took sole possession of second place with the 3-0 win over Kansas.
STAT OF THE MATCH
24 -- the amount of kills by Big 12 Offensive Player and Freshman of the Week Yossiana Pressley.
TOP QUOTE #1
"Overall, we were a little flat tonight. When we're at our best, we want to be able to compete with anybody, and when we're at our worst, we want to still be able to win. We definitely weren't at our worst tonight, but we were a little flat. Not our best overall team match, but a win's a win." -head coach Ryan McGuyre on the win
TOP QUOTE #2
"We have to put her on the court. She's been cleared to go, but she hasn't practiced in a while either. She did a great job. We put her in some uncomfortable positions. She did a great, great job. I was really pleased to see how aggressive she was on defense. Those are things you're kind of afraid will get lost if you're sitting down, but her aggressiveness, to me, was great." --head coach Ryan McGuyre on Katie Staiger
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears hit the road for their final Big 12 road match as they face West Virginia Sunday at noon CT at WVU Coliseum.
