Freshmen Phenoms Flash Lifting No. 19 Baylor VB Past No. 17 BYU in Five-Set Thriller

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 23, 2025

Freshmen Phenoms Flash Lifting No. 19 Baylor VB Past No. 17 BYU in Five-Set Thriller
BU’s Warren and Rakhmanchik combine for 43 kills to cut down the Cougars
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 – Behind a dominant defensive showing against the top offensive team in the conference, No. 19 Baylor volleyball battled past No. 17 BYU 3-2 on Thursday night inside the Ferrell Center.

The Bears (12–6, 7–3 Big 12) improved to 8–1 at home while evening the all-time series with the Cougars (16–4, 4–4 Big 12) at two matches apiece.

Baylor’s defense proved to be the difference, recording 10.0 team blocks and holding BYU to a .214 hitting percentage, including just .115 in the decisive fifth set. On the other side of the net, Baylor hit .279, marking the program’s eighth match this season above .250, improving to 8-0 in those contests.

Head coach Ryan McGuyre was proud of the team effort it took to slow down one of the best-hitting teams in the Big 12 Conference.
“Defense is two things, it's about attitude and fast hands,” he said. “Morgan made exceptional plays, Harley was great on defense, leading us in digs with 24. Tactically, we made some defensive adjustments; Tahani dug some deep line or off blockers, and we were able to pick up tips. Those are things we let fall a couple of times in the second and third sets, and then the blocking came around, so we had some good blocks. But defense also — for us — starts with our serves, and so I thought our servers were able to hit the zones.”

The Bears set the tone early, storming to a 25-15 win in the opening frame behind a .400 team hitting percentage and five kills from Ksenia Rakhmanchik. The freshman combined with Manuela Bibinbe for five of Baylor’s seven kills as part of a 10-1 run that put the Bears in control at 16-6.

BYU bounced back to claim the next two sets, taking advantage of timely serving and strong net play to edge Baylor 25-22 and 25-21, respectively.

Baylor came alive again in the fourth, using a 10-4 surge to take command. Bailey Warren and Victoria Davis combined for 11 kills in the set, while Rakhmanchik added four more on .333 hitting. The Bears limited BYU to .158 while posting a .350 mark of their own to force a decisive fifth.

In the final frame, Baylor raced out to a 6–3 lead behind two kills apiece from Warren and Davis and never looked back, closing out the night with a 15–8 victory on Harley Kreck’s quick-set kill.

Warren’s 27 kills were the most by a Baylor player this season and the most by a freshman since Kyndal Stowers had 29 at SMU in September of 2023. McGuyre was thrilled with the way another one of his young freshmen stepped up in a huge match.
“Bailey was phenomenal tonight,” he said. “I probably challenged her early because their outside hitter [Suli Davis] — who had a good match, just not as good as Bailey’s — was the preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. In the recruiting process with Bailey, she was like, "Hey, that's who I want to be. That's what I want." So I think we kind of challenged three of our freshmen, and she rose the highest. But this was a spectacular performance.”

Kreck recorded another all-around performance with 44 assists and a career-high 24 digs, while distributing to four hitters with double-digit kills. Bibinbe finished with 10 kills on the night, surpassing 500 for her career, teaming up with Davis to lead the team with four blocks apiece. Rakhmanchik notched hear team-leading fourth double-double of the season with 16 kills and 12 digs.

Baylor will now be off until next Wednesday when they travel to Ames, Iowa, to take on the Iowa State Cyclones, with first serve set for 6:30 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.
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

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