No. 5 Seed Baylor VB Prepares for No. 12 Minnesota in Regional Semifinals

[Allen, Madelon]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – December 8, 2021





No. 5 Seed VB Prepares for No. 12 Minnesota in Regional Semifinals
Bears ready for rematch with Golden Gophers
For more information contact: Madelon Allen, 254-252-7168, Madelon_Allen at Baylor.edu<mailto:Madelon_Allen at Baylor.edu>


MADISON, Wisc. – No. 5 seed Baylor volleyball looks ahead to the Regional Semifinals against No. 12 Minnesota, with the match set for 2 p.m. CT Thursday, Dec. 9, in UW Field House.

The Bears (22-5) saw Minnesota (22-8) early on in the season for the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge, also at Wisconsin. The déjà vu brings some sense of normalcy for BU, but neither team is the same as they were at the end of August when they first met. At the time of the first match, Baylor was ranked 10th while Minnesota was No. 7. It was BU’s first match of the season, working through lineup configurations and finding the best fit for the squad.

Both teams come back to the UW Field House court battle tested, with Baylor having gone 14-5 in the regular season against teams in the NCAA Tournament. Five of BU’s wins and four of their losses were against teams ranked or receiving votes at the time they played. Six of the Golden Gophers’ losses came against ranked teams this season as well, including twice against a No. 5-ranked Wisconsin team.

Baylor defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Washington State en route to the Regional, with Minnesota advancing after defeating South Dakota and No. 18 Stanford in the Minneapolis First and Second Rounds.

With the First and Second Round wins, Baylor continues a now nine-match winning streak and six-straight sweeps of its opponents. The Bears are in their third-straight Regionals and sixth-straight NCAA Tournament, all under head coach Ryan McGuyre.

Baylor’s Yossiana Pressley, Hannah Sedwick and Avery Skinner were all named All-Region by the AVCA on Dec. 7, with Lauren Harrison being named Honorable Mention.

BEAR BITES

  *   Baylor improved to 10-5 under McGuyre in NCAA Tournaments and 13-9 overall.
  *   This is the Bears’ third-straight Regional Semifinal appearance, fourth overall.
  *   BU is making its sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and has won 20 or more matches in each of the last six seasons.
  *   Baylor has had 19 of its 25 regular-season matches against teams that are now in the tournament, going 14-5.

The match with No. 12 Minnesota will be broadcast on ESPNU, with Courtney Lyle and Karch Kiraly on the call from UW Field House.

Live stats and bracket updates for the NCAA Tournament can be found on NCAA.com.

A full recap and final stats will be posted to BaylorBears.com after the conclusion of play.

The winner of Thursday’s match will play the winner of No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 13 UCLA in the Regional Finals on Saturday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVball.



-BaylorBears.com-



__________________________________

Madelon Allen | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (VB, MTEN, A&T)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-252-7168

[signature_1750928720]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20211208/3cca30b5/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 20335 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20211208/3cca30b5/attachment-0001.png>