Wednesday, November 1
Waco, Texas
7PM
Baylor
3
vs
2
Oklahoma
No. 21 VB Fights Off Oklahoma, 3-2
11/1/2023 11:39:00 PM | Volleyball
Bears stave off reverse sweep to win in five
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Pushed to five sets for the sixth time this season and second time in a week, 21st-ranked Baylor volleyball came up with the right answers in pulling out a 3-2 win over the Oklahoma Sooners Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
It was fitting that junior outside hitter Elise McGhee closed it out with her career high-tying 21st kill and another big-time swing that went through OU's block to finally finish off the upset-minded Sooners, 25-14, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25, 15-12, in their last matchup as Big 12 foes.
"I really thought Elise's energy – because she's a different personality in the fifth set – was huge," said Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre, whose team improved to 13-9 overall and 7-5 in the Big 12. "She was playing so well that it reassured everybody else of, 'Hey, for tonight, our best player is confident.' That gave me confidence as a coach, and I thought the team really picked up on that. And then, she backed it up with her play."
McGhee hit through, over and around Oklahoma's defense, hitting at a .486 clip with 21 kills and only four errors on 35 total swings.
"I think it goes back to watching lots of film, and it's knowing what shots are open through there and learning from mistakes in previous games," she said. "I feel like just knowing that I need to wait and go get it high. We talked after the Texas game about not playing it safe and swinging deep and as hard as we can."
Six days ago, fourth-ranked Texas pulled off a reverse sweep after Baylor took the first two sets on the road in Austin, winning the fifth set, 15-10. That was the Bears' fourth fifth-set loss in five tries.
But this time, McGhee helped Baylor take an 8-4 fifth-set lead with two kills and an ace, and the Bears never trailed in winning five of the next seven points after a 10-10 tie.
"Elise gave us some breathing room with tough serves in there," McGuyre said. "I'm proud of her match. She did it, not quite single-handedly, but almost. She knows it's a team game. But she's blocking well, hitting .486 with 21 kills, a really, really spectacular performance by her."
The way the first two sets went, it looked like it would be an early night, Baylor dominating in every phase of the game. Baylor had three aces and three blocks in each of the first two sets, hitting a combined .302.
But the Sooners (9-13, 2-10) turned the tables by hitting .323 in the next two sets and tying it up at 2-2. Freshman Hannah Pfiffner gave a huge lift off the bench, registering five of her 12 kills and both of her blocks in the fourth set.
"She's come to so many camps, what a great family. Love her a lot," McGuyre said of Pfiffner, who played high school volleyball at Frisco Wakeland. "Can't take them all, we're like splitting hairs, trying to do stuff. I think her being back in Texas . . . she came in and was a big impact for them in the middle offensively. That gets your team excited when your bench player comes in and does some things."
Tied at 10-10, the Bears got some separation in the fifth set with a 3-0 run that included a solo block by Riley Simpson, an Averi Carlson ace and a powerful kill by right-side hitter Allie Sczech.
"It just goes back to maturity," said McGhee, who added three digs, two service aces and a pair of blocks. "Going into the fifth set, we were like, 'We need to start off strong. We need to be the first to eight, the first to 10, the first to 12. Little increments, but knowing that we cannot mess around. And it needs to be first-ball sideout eery time."
Simpson chipped in with 15 kills and five blocks, while Manuela Bibinbe had seven kills and three blocks. Averi Carlson and Alexis Daocsta had four and three aces, respectively.
"Everyone in the conference is good," McGuyre said. "I think when you have the new coaches, too, they're doing things a little bit different. Those programs that have maybe lost a lot are looking for small victories. To them, the minute we give them a set, maybe they accomplished that they wanted, coming in here and taking a set off of a ranked team."
Baylor, which won its 15th-straight in the series against an Oklahoma team that is moving to the SEC next year, goes back on the road to face Texas Tech (8-15, 1-10) at 1 p.m. CT Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena.
WACO, Texas – The 21st-ranked Baylor volleyball team defeated Oklahoma on Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center, staving off a reverse sweep of the Sooners to win, 3-2.
BU (13-9, 7-5 Big 12) handily took the first two sets against OU (9-13, 2-10 Big 12) at 25-14, 25-19, but fell in the third and fourth (20-25, 23-25), coming back in the fifth (15-12) to take the last conference victory over the Sooners.
The Bears were led by Elise McGhee for the third-straight match, bringing in 21 kills for BU. Alexis Dacosta served up three aces, a career high, out of Baylor's 10 while Carlson also served up a career-high four. Alicia Andrew was all over the block with six total while Lauren Briseño had 16 digs and Averi Carlson had 42 assists.
THE RUNDOWN
Set 1
BU started the first set strong with a kill by Elise McGhee but quickly went down 6-4 despite impressive points from both Carlson and Riley Simpson. The Bears battled back to 8-8 with a block from Simpson and an ace from Dacosta. Baylor took their biggest lead of the night at 13-9 with kills by McGhee and Andrew. A combination of an Oklahoma error and a kill by McGhee put the Bears up 17-12. After two more Oklahoma errors, the Bears went up 19-12 on the Sooners. Simpson's kill and Carlson's ace brought the Bears up to a 21-13 lead. BU took it to set point with a pair of Oklahoma errors and a kill by Andrew. Baylor won the set 25-14, finalized by a block from McGhee and Andrew.
Set 2
The Bears started the second set with a block by McGhee putting the Bears up early. A kill by McGhee and an ace by Dacosta brought the Bears up to a 3-0 run. BU added to their lead going up 8-4 with a kill by Manuela Bibinbe. Kills by McGhee and Simpson brought Baylor to a 10-6 lead. A combined block by Andrew and Simpson as well as a kill by McGhee helped push the Bears to a 15-8 lead. An ace and a kill by Dacosta and McGhee, respectively, put the Bears up by 10, 18-8. A massive kill by Bibinbe got the Bears to a 20-12 lead. Back-to-back kills by McGhee helped Baylor to a 22-13 lead. The Bears pushed to match point with a kill from Carlson. Simpson's kill won the Bears the second set, 25-19.
Set 3
Baylor opened up the third set with a kill by McGhee. McGhee, with her third kill of the set, brought the heat and led the Bears to a 4-3 lead. Kills from Bibinbe and Simpson helped push BU to an 8-4 lead. The Bears suffered kills from Oklahoma, taking them to a one point deficit. After a Baylor timeout, Simpson's kill brought the Bears to a 10-10 tie. BU came out of its timeout firing with a kill by Bibinbe and another attack by McGhee, leading to an Oklahoma error putting the Bears at a 14-17 deficit but closing the gap. With kills by Simpson and Sczech, Baylor rallied up to a 17-19 deficit forcing Oklahoma to take a timeout. Bears fought down to set point but Oklahoma took the third set, 25-20.
Set 4
Bears take a 2-0 lead to start set four due to two Oklahoma errors. Kills from McGhee and Bibinbe extend the Bears lead to 4-2. An ace from Tehani Ulufatu and an Oklahoma error brought the Bears up 6-3. BU scored its second ace of set 4 with McGhee, taking a 7-3 lead. The Bears suffered continuous kills from Oklahoma but maintained a slight 9-8 lead. Baylor charged a timeout after going down 9-11 due to two Oklahoma kills and two errors. The Bears came out of the timeout with a kill by Sczech, bringing them up to 10-11. BU suffered an error on a serve and an OU kill but fought back with a kill by Bibinbe to a one point deficit. Two kills by Simpson brought the Bears to a tie at 16-16. BU took the lead and forced an Oklahoma timeout after an OU error. Baylor traded kills with the Sooners, bringing the score up to 18-17, the Bears with the lead. Simpson and Andrew forced an Oklahoma error and McGhee got a kill to extend the lead to 20-18. The Bears lost the lead after a kill and an error by Oklahoma, but tied the set at 22-all after a service error on Oklahoma. Baylor traded kills with the Sooners to tie it again, 23-23. Oklahoma took the fourth set 25-23 after a kill and an Baylor error.
Set 5
To start the fifth set the Bears trade kills with the Sooners tying the score at 1-1. After more back and forth kills, the Bears took a 3-2 lead with a kill by Sczech. A massive solo block from Bibinbe and two OU errors forced the Bears to a 7-4 lead. The Bears, on a 5-0 scoring run, saw an ace by McGhee, giving them a 8-4 lead. BU suffered two consecutive kills and an ace by the Sooners tying the game at 8-8 and forcing Baylor to use a timeout. The Bears came out of the timeout with two kills by Simpson bringing them to a 10-8 lead. The Sooners combined a kill with a Baylor error to tie the set at 10-10. Baylor struck back with a statement kill by Simpson, putting the Bears at a 11-10 lead. BU forced a timeout out of Oklahoma after scoring an ace with Carlson. A massive kill from Sczech brought Baylor to a 13-10 lead. Andrews extended the Bears' lead to 14-11 lead with a kill. McGhee wins the set and match for BU with a kill, 15-12.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT UP
The Bears head to Lubbock for a match with Texas Tech on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 1 p.m. CT at United Supermarkets Arena.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Pushed to five sets for the sixth time this season and second time in a week, 21st-ranked Baylor volleyball came up with the right answers in pulling out a 3-2 win over the Oklahoma Sooners Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
It was fitting that junior outside hitter Elise McGhee closed it out with her career high-tying 21st kill and another big-time swing that went through OU's block to finally finish off the upset-minded Sooners, 25-14, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25, 15-12, in their last matchup as Big 12 foes.
"I really thought Elise's energy – because she's a different personality in the fifth set – was huge," said Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre, whose team improved to 13-9 overall and 7-5 in the Big 12. "She was playing so well that it reassured everybody else of, 'Hey, for tonight, our best player is confident.' That gave me confidence as a coach, and I thought the team really picked up on that. And then, she backed it up with her play."
McGhee hit through, over and around Oklahoma's defense, hitting at a .486 clip with 21 kills and only four errors on 35 total swings.
"I think it goes back to watching lots of film, and it's knowing what shots are open through there and learning from mistakes in previous games," she said. "I feel like just knowing that I need to wait and go get it high. We talked after the Texas game about not playing it safe and swinging deep and as hard as we can."
Six days ago, fourth-ranked Texas pulled off a reverse sweep after Baylor took the first two sets on the road in Austin, winning the fifth set, 15-10. That was the Bears' fourth fifth-set loss in five tries.
But this time, McGhee helped Baylor take an 8-4 fifth-set lead with two kills and an ace, and the Bears never trailed in winning five of the next seven points after a 10-10 tie.
"Elise gave us some breathing room with tough serves in there," McGuyre said. "I'm proud of her match. She did it, not quite single-handedly, but almost. She knows it's a team game. But she's blocking well, hitting .486 with 21 kills, a really, really spectacular performance by her."
The way the first two sets went, it looked like it would be an early night, Baylor dominating in every phase of the game. Baylor had three aces and three blocks in each of the first two sets, hitting a combined .302.
But the Sooners (9-13, 2-10) turned the tables by hitting .323 in the next two sets and tying it up at 2-2. Freshman Hannah Pfiffner gave a huge lift off the bench, registering five of her 12 kills and both of her blocks in the fourth set.
"She's come to so many camps, what a great family. Love her a lot," McGuyre said of Pfiffner, who played high school volleyball at Frisco Wakeland. "Can't take them all, we're like splitting hairs, trying to do stuff. I think her being back in Texas . . . she came in and was a big impact for them in the middle offensively. That gets your team excited when your bench player comes in and does some things."
Tied at 10-10, the Bears got some separation in the fifth set with a 3-0 run that included a solo block by Riley Simpson, an Averi Carlson ace and a powerful kill by right-side hitter Allie Sczech.
"It just goes back to maturity," said McGhee, who added three digs, two service aces and a pair of blocks. "Going into the fifth set, we were like, 'We need to start off strong. We need to be the first to eight, the first to 10, the first to 12. Little increments, but knowing that we cannot mess around. And it needs to be first-ball sideout eery time."
Simpson chipped in with 15 kills and five blocks, while Manuela Bibinbe had seven kills and three blocks. Averi Carlson and Alexis Daocsta had four and three aces, respectively.
"Everyone in the conference is good," McGuyre said. "I think when you have the new coaches, too, they're doing things a little bit different. Those programs that have maybe lost a lot are looking for small victories. To them, the minute we give them a set, maybe they accomplished that they wanted, coming in here and taking a set off of a ranked team."
Baylor, which won its 15th-straight in the series against an Oklahoma team that is moving to the SEC next year, goes back on the road to face Texas Tech (8-15, 1-10) at 1 p.m. CT Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena.
WACO, Texas – The 21st-ranked Baylor volleyball team defeated Oklahoma on Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center, staving off a reverse sweep of the Sooners to win, 3-2.
BU (13-9, 7-5 Big 12) handily took the first two sets against OU (9-13, 2-10 Big 12) at 25-14, 25-19, but fell in the third and fourth (20-25, 23-25), coming back in the fifth (15-12) to take the last conference victory over the Sooners.
The Bears were led by Elise McGhee for the third-straight match, bringing in 21 kills for BU. Alexis Dacosta served up three aces, a career high, out of Baylor's 10 while Carlson also served up a career-high four. Alicia Andrew was all over the block with six total while Lauren Briseño had 16 digs and Averi Carlson had 42 assists.
THE RUNDOWN
Set 1
BU started the first set strong with a kill by Elise McGhee but quickly went down 6-4 despite impressive points from both Carlson and Riley Simpson. The Bears battled back to 8-8 with a block from Simpson and an ace from Dacosta. Baylor took their biggest lead of the night at 13-9 with kills by McGhee and Andrew. A combination of an Oklahoma error and a kill by McGhee put the Bears up 17-12. After two more Oklahoma errors, the Bears went up 19-12 on the Sooners. Simpson's kill and Carlson's ace brought the Bears up to a 21-13 lead. BU took it to set point with a pair of Oklahoma errors and a kill by Andrew. Baylor won the set 25-14, finalized by a block from McGhee and Andrew.
Set 2
The Bears started the second set with a block by McGhee putting the Bears up early. A kill by McGhee and an ace by Dacosta brought the Bears up to a 3-0 run. BU added to their lead going up 8-4 with a kill by Manuela Bibinbe. Kills by McGhee and Simpson brought Baylor to a 10-6 lead. A combined block by Andrew and Simpson as well as a kill by McGhee helped push the Bears to a 15-8 lead. An ace and a kill by Dacosta and McGhee, respectively, put the Bears up by 10, 18-8. A massive kill by Bibinbe got the Bears to a 20-12 lead. Back-to-back kills by McGhee helped Baylor to a 22-13 lead. The Bears pushed to match point with a kill from Carlson. Simpson's kill won the Bears the second set, 25-19.
Set 3
Baylor opened up the third set with a kill by McGhee. McGhee, with her third kill of the set, brought the heat and led the Bears to a 4-3 lead. Kills from Bibinbe and Simpson helped push BU to an 8-4 lead. The Bears suffered kills from Oklahoma, taking them to a one point deficit. After a Baylor timeout, Simpson's kill brought the Bears to a 10-10 tie. BU came out of its timeout firing with a kill by Bibinbe and another attack by McGhee, leading to an Oklahoma error putting the Bears at a 14-17 deficit but closing the gap. With kills by Simpson and Sczech, Baylor rallied up to a 17-19 deficit forcing Oklahoma to take a timeout. Bears fought down to set point but Oklahoma took the third set, 25-20.
Set 4
Bears take a 2-0 lead to start set four due to two Oklahoma errors. Kills from McGhee and Bibinbe extend the Bears lead to 4-2. An ace from Tehani Ulufatu and an Oklahoma error brought the Bears up 6-3. BU scored its second ace of set 4 with McGhee, taking a 7-3 lead. The Bears suffered continuous kills from Oklahoma but maintained a slight 9-8 lead. Baylor charged a timeout after going down 9-11 due to two Oklahoma kills and two errors. The Bears came out of the timeout with a kill by Sczech, bringing them up to 10-11. BU suffered an error on a serve and an OU kill but fought back with a kill by Bibinbe to a one point deficit. Two kills by Simpson brought the Bears to a tie at 16-16. BU took the lead and forced an Oklahoma timeout after an OU error. Baylor traded kills with the Sooners, bringing the score up to 18-17, the Bears with the lead. Simpson and Andrew forced an Oklahoma error and McGhee got a kill to extend the lead to 20-18. The Bears lost the lead after a kill and an error by Oklahoma, but tied the set at 22-all after a service error on Oklahoma. Baylor traded kills with the Sooners to tie it again, 23-23. Oklahoma took the fourth set 25-23 after a kill and an Baylor error.
Set 5
To start the fifth set the Bears trade kills with the Sooners tying the score at 1-1. After more back and forth kills, the Bears took a 3-2 lead with a kill by Sczech. A massive solo block from Bibinbe and two OU errors forced the Bears to a 7-4 lead. The Bears, on a 5-0 scoring run, saw an ace by McGhee, giving them a 8-4 lead. BU suffered two consecutive kills and an ace by the Sooners tying the game at 8-8 and forcing Baylor to use a timeout. The Bears came out of the timeout with two kills by Simpson bringing them to a 10-8 lead. The Sooners combined a kill with a Baylor error to tie the set at 10-10. Baylor struck back with a statement kill by Simpson, putting the Bears at a 11-10 lead. BU forced a timeout out of Oklahoma after scoring an ace with Carlson. A massive kill from Sczech brought Baylor to a 13-10 lead. Andrews extended the Bears' lead to 14-11 lead with a kill. McGhee wins the set and match for BU with a kill, 15-12.
HIGHLIGHTS
- McGhee had 21 kills to tie her career high
- Dacosta served up a career high three aces, Carlson served up a career-high four
- This was the last conference matchup between OU and BU
- The Bears have won 15-straight matches against the Sooners
NEXT UP
The Bears head to Lubbock for a match with Texas Tech on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 1 p.m. CT at United Supermarkets Arena.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.
- BaylorBears.com -
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