Box Score Sept. 20, 2017 Box Score
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation Freshmen Hannah Lockin and Yossiana Pressley might be hitting their stride at just the right time.
In Wednesday's Big 12 Conference opener, Lockin had her "best match of the year" with 54 assists, six digs, four kills and two blocks and Pressley hit .333 with 15 kills and four blocks to lead Baylor volleyball (11-3, 1-0) to a four-set win over the visiting Texas Tech Red Raiders, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16.
"Hannah Lockin, (that was) the best match of the year for her," coach Ryan McGuyre said of his freshman setter. "It's great to see her be so good in the conference opener. And then Yossi was right behind her. That's two freshmen that when they're on, we're really, really good. As they're learning the game, we've had times where we've stubbed our toe. But both of them, I thought, were phenomenal tonight."
Baylor had a highly efficient .353 attack percentage for the match and was even better in the last two sets, hitting .492 with 37 kills and only six errors on 63 swings. Career kills leader Katie Staiger had a match-high 20 kills and hit .415, with Shelly Fanning recording 12 kills and Camryn Freiberg finishing with eight kills and seven blocks.
"Tech's good, they're really low-error, so we had to earn our points," McGuyre said. "The sets we won, (we had) 17 kills, 19 kills, 18 kills. It's a game to 25, so we're scoring all of them really on kills and aces. We had to earn them against a very, very good Tech team."
The Bears took control midway through the first set and closed it out, 25-20, with Staiger's fourth kill of the frame. But, Tech bounced back to knot the match in a second set when the Bears hit just .114 and had two service errors.
"We just kind of knew, especially at the end, we were like, `This isn't our game of volleyball,''' Lockin said. "I felt like we dropped to their level more (in the second set). Which that was the difference in the other three sets, we were playing at our level."
Aniah Philoh had three of her seven kills in the third set, helping the Bears hit a cool .500 with 19 kills and just three errors on 32 attempts. Breaking away at 20-19, Baylor scored five of the last six points and closed it out with a Fanning kill off a set by Lockin.
Fanning also ended the fourth frame and the match with kills on Baylor's last two points as the Bears held Tech (11-3, 0-1) to its lowest hitting percentage (.214) and fewest kills (12).
Like Lockin, Pressley said she is "playing with a lot of confidence, because I'm like, `Why not? What's the worst that could happen?' Plus, I'm playing for one person, I'm playing for God. He enjoys how I play, he's not mad at me, he still loves me."
Baylor, which has won six in a row, travels up I-35 to face TCU (8-4, 0-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs opened conference play Wednesday night with a 3-1 loss on the road at West Virginia.
THE RUNDOWN WACO, Texas -- Baylor volleyball (11-3, 1-0 Big 12) surged to a four-set win over Texas Tech in the team's Big 12 opener Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16.
The Bears have now won six straight matches against the Red Raiders (11-3, 0-1 Big 12) and secured the win with five players hitting over .350.
Senior Katie Staiger led all players with 20 kills, and Yossiana Pressley added 15 on the outside while Shelly Fanning contributed 12 in the middle.
In her first Big 12 match, freshman Hannah Lockin dished 54 assists and added four kills in the win.
Baylor took control midway through the opening frame and lead 15-10 at the media timeout. Staiger closed out the first set to put the Bears in front, 25-20.
The Bears trailed 4-0 early and could never recover in the second set. After a Lockin and Fanning block gave the Bears a 21-19 lead, the Red Raiders closed out the set on a 6-2 run to even the match up, 25-23.
Baylor stormed back and hit .500 in the third frame en route to a 25-20 set win to retake the match lead.
BU used seven kills from Staiger and four blocks in the fourth set to close it out, 25-20.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Katie Staiger led all players with 20 kills on a .415 attack effort.
- Yossiana Pressley and Hannah Lockin totaled 19 combined kills and 54 assists, respectively.
- Baylor is now 4-0 when hitting .300 or better this season.
- The Bears and Red Raiders tied in blocks with 10 each.
- The Bears have now won six straight and 24 of the last 26 matches against Texas Tech.
STAT OF THE MATCH
.415 -- the Bears' offensive efficiency in their conference opener.
TOP QUOTE
"Offensively, I thought we were pretty solid all night. Hannah Lockin (had) the best match of the year for her. She's really matured, and it's great to see her be so good in the conference opener. Yossi (Pressley) was right behind her too. With those two freshmen -- when they're on then we're really good. It was good to see the things we worked on offensively with that being the focus. Defensively, in the second set we didn't slow too much down. (Texas) Tech is good. They're really low error, so we had to earn our points." -head coach Ryan McGuyre
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears hit the road for a I-35 rival matchup against TCU (8-4, 0-1 Big 12) Saturday at 2 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest.
