
No. 22 VB Welcomes Cincinnati for Thursday Match
10/16/2024 4:05:00 PM | Volleyball
Bears host Bearcats for first time
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Falling four spots to No. 22 in the AVCA rankings after back-to-back, straight-set road losses to BYU and Utah, Baylor volleyball (10-6, 2-3) will be back in the comforts of home for four of its next five matches.
The Bears are 9-3 in the Ferrell Center – the three losses were to teams currently ranked seventh (Texas), ninth (Wisconsin) and 12th (SMU) – and will host Cincinnati (11-6, 2-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday, trying to snap a three-match losing streak.
"For starters, good to be back home," said Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre, whose team is just 1-3 on the road. "We've competed really well at home, and looking forward to getting in front of our own crowd. We definitely had some adversity, got some injuries and stuff going on, and played some really good teams at their place. But with this group, I still feel like we'll play our best volleyball in December."
Still trying to get healed up, McGuyre said the Bears will have to "use our depth."
"We want to be united in our mindset, play for an audience of one, so that it doesn't matter whether it's home or away," McGuyre said. "All that said, that's where we train, there's a comfort level, the sight lines, just little things like balls that are in and out by inches. I think there's a familiarity with that."
Six different Baylor players have recorded double-digit kills in a match, led by senior outside hitter Elise McGhee with 20 against LSU, but McGuyre said he's "not sure we've had a single player take over a match fully, like, 'Oh man, they're just unstoppable the whole time.'''
"I think this team's achieving some great things in how we've been united, and we need everybody to play well for us to win," McGuyre said. "We can't rely on somebody to carry us, yet. But I believe it's within Elise. I believe it's within Allie Sczech. Grace (Carroll) has come in off the bench and has always done good things for us.
"We've seen Ali Andrew do those things. We've seen Manu (Bibinbe) do those things. I think Lauren (Briseño) has had her moments where she's kept everything up off the ground from the back row. But I want to challenge them. I think we have some more All-American performances, but there are more All-American performances that have yet to come out."
Like Baylor, Cincinnati is trying to snap a losing skid, dropping two-straight and three of its last four. In a strange twist, the Bearcats have been better on the road (5-1) than at home (4-2).
"They've got live arms, heavy arms," McGuyre said of Cincinnati. "Similar to Utah in their 6-2 – capable, strong middles and pins that are just swinging away. We've really got to block. Our block did not show up on the road trip, and that was something that's helped us agains the big, physical teams early in the year."
Thursday's match will be streamed on ESPN+, with Kyle Youmans and former Baylor All-American Katie Smith on the call.
WACO, Texas – No. 22 Baylor volleyball hosts Cincinnati at the Ferrell Center for the first time in program history on Thursday with a start time of 7 p.m. CT.
The Bears (10-6, 2-3) and Bearcats (11-5, 2-3) both look to snap losing streaks, BU having lost three in a row and UC having lost two-straight.
The Bears fell in straight sets to BYU and Utah on the road despite close frames and look to bounce back on their home court.
The match against Cincinnati will be Baylor's Dig Pink match, all patrons encouraged to wear pink.
Baylor is 104-47 in Big 12 matches under head coach Ryan McGuyre and have raked in 230 Big 12 wins overall since 1996.
Leading the way for the Bears through 16 matches are senior outside hitter Elise McGhee (177 kills, 22 aces), senior libero Lauren Briseño (231 digs), graduate transfer setter Jackie Barrett Frazier (446 assists) and senior middle blocker Manuela Bibinbe (49 blocks).
Briseño is just seven aces away from joining Baylor's career top-five for rally scoring service aces at 75. In addition, she's 49 digs away from entering the top-10 for career digs at BU, currently registering 1,168 over her four-year career.
The match will be streamed on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. CT, with Kyle Youmans and Katie Smith on the call. Live stats will be available at BaylorStats.com, with a full recap and final box score uploaded to BaylorBears.com after the conclusion of the match.
Fans interested in purchasing tickets for home matches can visit BaylorBears.com/Tickets. All seats are general admission for volleyball in the Ferrell Center, with the student section behind the team benches. Seats are first-come, first-served and doors open 60 minutes before match time.
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 – Falling four spots to No. 22 in the AVCA rankings after back-to-back, straight-set road losses to BYU and Utah, Baylor volleyball (10-6, 2-3) will be back in the comforts of home for four of its next five matches.
The Bears are 9-3 in the Ferrell Center – the three losses were to teams currently ranked seventh (Texas), ninth (Wisconsin) and 12th (SMU) – and will host Cincinnati (11-6, 2-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday, trying to snap a three-match losing streak.
"For starters, good to be back home," said Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre, whose team is just 1-3 on the road. "We've competed really well at home, and looking forward to getting in front of our own crowd. We definitely had some adversity, got some injuries and stuff going on, and played some really good teams at their place. But with this group, I still feel like we'll play our best volleyball in December."
Still trying to get healed up, McGuyre said the Bears will have to "use our depth."
"We want to be united in our mindset, play for an audience of one, so that it doesn't matter whether it's home or away," McGuyre said. "All that said, that's where we train, there's a comfort level, the sight lines, just little things like balls that are in and out by inches. I think there's a familiarity with that."
Six different Baylor players have recorded double-digit kills in a match, led by senior outside hitter Elise McGhee with 20 against LSU, but McGuyre said he's "not sure we've had a single player take over a match fully, like, 'Oh man, they're just unstoppable the whole time.'''
"I think this team's achieving some great things in how we've been united, and we need everybody to play well for us to win," McGuyre said. "We can't rely on somebody to carry us, yet. But I believe it's within Elise. I believe it's within Allie Sczech. Grace (Carroll) has come in off the bench and has always done good things for us.
"We've seen Ali Andrew do those things. We've seen Manu (Bibinbe) do those things. I think Lauren (Briseño) has had her moments where she's kept everything up off the ground from the back row. But I want to challenge them. I think we have some more All-American performances, but there are more All-American performances that have yet to come out."
Like Baylor, Cincinnati is trying to snap a losing skid, dropping two-straight and three of its last four. In a strange twist, the Bearcats have been better on the road (5-1) than at home (4-2).
"They've got live arms, heavy arms," McGuyre said of Cincinnati. "Similar to Utah in their 6-2 – capable, strong middles and pins that are just swinging away. We've really got to block. Our block did not show up on the road trip, and that was something that's helped us agains the big, physical teams early in the year."
Thursday's match will be streamed on ESPN+, with Kyle Youmans and former Baylor All-American Katie Smith on the call.
WACO, Texas – No. 22 Baylor volleyball hosts Cincinnati at the Ferrell Center for the first time in program history on Thursday with a start time of 7 p.m. CT.
The Bears (10-6, 2-3) and Bearcats (11-5, 2-3) both look to snap losing streaks, BU having lost three in a row and UC having lost two-straight.
The Bears fell in straight sets to BYU and Utah on the road despite close frames and look to bounce back on their home court.
The match against Cincinnati will be Baylor's Dig Pink match, all patrons encouraged to wear pink.
Baylor is 104-47 in Big 12 matches under head coach Ryan McGuyre and have raked in 230 Big 12 wins overall since 1996.
Leading the way for the Bears through 16 matches are senior outside hitter Elise McGhee (177 kills, 22 aces), senior libero Lauren Briseño (231 digs), graduate transfer setter Jackie Barrett Frazier (446 assists) and senior middle blocker Manuela Bibinbe (49 blocks).
Briseño is just seven aces away from joining Baylor's career top-five for rally scoring service aces at 75. In addition, she's 49 digs away from entering the top-10 for career digs at BU, currently registering 1,168 over her four-year career.
The match will be streamed on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. CT, with Kyle Youmans and Katie Smith on the call. Live stats will be available at BaylorStats.com, with a full recap and final box score uploaded to BaylorBears.com after the conclusion of the match.
Fans interested in purchasing tickets for home matches can visit BaylorBears.com/Tickets. All seats are general admission for volleyball in the Ferrell Center, with the student section behind the team benches. Seats are first-come, first-served and doors open 60 minutes before match time.
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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