No. 20 Baylor VB Smothers Cincinnati in 3-1 Win Over the Bearcats

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 17, 2025

No. 20 Baylor VB Smothers Cincinnati in 3-1 Win Over the Bearcats
The Bears' 18 blocks were the most in a match since 2022
For more information, contact: Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>
Volleyball Media Materials: https://baylorbea.rs/vbmedia


WACO, Texas – Harley Kreck delivered a standout performance to lift No. 20 Baylor volleyball to a second-straight win, beating Cincinnati 3-1 on Friday night.

Taking a sixth-straight against the Bearcats, the Bears improved to 11-6 on the season and 6-3 in Big 12 play, while moving to an impressive 7-1 at home.

Baylor’s defense set the tone throughout the night, holding the Bearcats to a .090 hitting percentage, the lowest by a Big 12 opponent against the Bears this season. BU’s 18 team blocks were its most in any match since posting 20 against San Diego State on Sept. 2, 2022. On the offensive side, Baylor hit .259, its second-best mark in Big 12 play this season, moving to 7-0 this season when hitting over .250.

After a nip-and-tuck battle, Cincinnati pulled within a point at 9-8 in the first set, only to see the Bears go on a 6-1 run to take control of the match and close it out 25–16.

Baylor kept the pressure on in the second, cruising to a 25-13 win behind five team blocks, with the Bears’ front line holding Cincinnati to a negative hitting percentage as BU took a 2-0 lead in the match.

“Beginning sets, our focus is just to find rhythm offensively as soon as possible,” Kreck said “Once we see what’s working and who’s hot, we continue to streak those hitters until they make changes and if they don’t we’ll continue to feed them, so it helps us to get into a rhythm when stuff is working right off the bat.”

Cincinnati responded with its best set of the night, forcing extra points in a set that featured 21 ties and 10 lead changes, before the Bearcats ultimately escaped with a 30-28 win to stay alive.

In the final set, Baylor had to battle from behind early before eventually tying the match at 14. A 4-0 surge put the Bears in control, and they would finish off the night with a 25-20 win.

Kreck turned in a complete performance, recording 37 assists, a career-high six blocks, six digs, and a pair of service aces, finishing with 12 points, third-most on the team. Freshman Ksenia Rakhmanchik led the Bears with 14 kills, marking the fifth time this season she’s paced the team in that category. Junior Victoria Davis was a model of efficiency once again, hitting a match-high .571 on nine kills.

In the backcourt, freshman libero Morgan Madison continued her standout debut campaign, notching 12 digs to bring her season total to 238, surpassing Hannah Lockin Sedwick’s program record for digs by a freshman. Madison broke the mark with nine regular-season matches remaining.

Only 17 matches into her career, the freshman is making a big impact with the veterans on the team.

“One thing I love about Morgan is if you can feel a lull coming on, she does not allow the team to fall into that hole,” Kreck said. “Morgan keeps the standard, and she fires us up, while making plays to back it up. I know she's only a freshman, but truly, you would never know it. Aside from her play, the way she leads and the way she has a voice for her team, everybody listens to her, everybody respects her. So I'm looking to her every time the game is on the line.”
Next up, Baylor returns to the Ferrell Center on Thursday, Oct. 23, hosting No. 21 BYU, for a “whiteout”. First serve in that match is set for 7 p.m.

Single-game tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at Baylorbears.com.<https://baylorbears.evenue.net/list/VB> Follow @BaylorVball on X, Instagram and Facebook for additional updates.

—Baylorbears.com—




Matt Roberts | Director of Athletic Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-227-2280
[signature_339785252]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20251018/ff57f409/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001[55].png
Type: image/png
Size: 14099 bytes
Desc: image001[55].png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20251018/ff57f409/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BU_VB_17_Cincinnati.PDF
Type: application/pdf
Size: 728074 bytes
Desc: BU_VB_17_Cincinnati.PDF
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20251018/ff57f409/attachment-0001.pdf>