No. 17 Baylor VB Finishes Oklahoma in Five

Thu Oct 6 01:39:25 CDT 2022

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 5, 2022

No. 17 Baylor VB Finishes Oklahoma in Five
Bears took the win at home behind Lauren Harrison
For more information contact: Madelon Allen, 254-252-7168, Madelon_Allen at Baylor.edu

WACO, Texas – The 17th-ranked Baylor volleyball squad took the win over Oklahoma in five sets on Wednesday night in the Ferrell Center, 3-2.

The Bears (13-3, 3-1) beat out the Sooners (11-5, 1-3), 22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 20-25, 15-10, to stay undefeated at home at 9-0.

BU has now won 13 matches in a row against OU, all under head coach Ryan McGuyre, and the all-time series in Waco is now tied at 16-16.

Baylor has won back-to-back five-set thrillers and is 27-17 all-time under McGuyre when tied 2-2 and taking the match to a fifth.

THE RUNDOWN
Set 1
The first set didn’t go in the Bears’ way, though it started with.a Kara McGhee kill, but only after a successful challenge by McGuyre. Tying it up at 2-2 early was Elise McGhee with a kill. Lauren Harrison got her first kill of the match at 3-3, then got the next two points for BU. Elise McGhee tied it back up at 6-6. Allie Sczech entered the scoring game to close the gap by one, OU up 9-8. Harrison cut the lead by two at 12-10, then Baylor went on to score four in a row with Sophia Keene at the service line. Keene started it off with an ace at 12-12, then tied it up and took the lead with back-to-back attack errors from the Sooners. The Bears tried to continue ahead in the lead but OU came back and the next BU kill came at 18-16 from Elise McGhee, who then had another back-to-back. Baylor called timeout with OU up 21-17. Sczech closed the gap at 22-20, with OU calling time. Sczech and Harrison got kills but so did Oklahoma’s Taylor Preston, scoring two, making it 24-20. The Sooners closed the set with another Preston kill at 25-22.

Set 2
Starting the second set, OU continued their momentum and got the first point, but it wasn’t long before Kara McGhee got a kill to tie it at 1-1. Tying it up at 2-2 was Sczech, followed by Mallory Talbert getting her first kill of the match at 3-3. At 6-5 in OU’s favor, Talbert stepped up to the service line. Elise McGhee got a kill off Talbert’s first serve, then Talbert served up an ace, and the Bears never trailed after it. A kill from Kara McGhee made it 9-6, then Elise McGhee got a kill but the score was reversed with an OU challenge. Kara got another kill, followed by a block from her and Sczech to make it 11-8. At 15-11, the media timeout came into affect after a Harrison kill. Keene served up an ace, followed by a Talbert kill, with OU calling timeout. Averi Carlson got a kill at 19-13, and after Sczech made it 21-14, the Sooners called for a pause again. OU made a push, but the set was finished with a Kara McGhee kill at 25-18.

Set 3
Tied with one set won each, BU came into the third set with Harrison firing a kill off to start. Sczech followed her lead with one of her own, and Talbert made it 4-1. Oklahoma went on a run and got up 6-5, but a service error from a Sooner tied it back again. The teams went back and forth all the way until 19-19, where an attack error was followed by two more from the Sooners. Back up ahead at 21-19, OU called timeout. Out of it, the Sooners tied it back up three more times. At 23-23, Faith Lynch subbed in for the Bears where Riley Simpson got the kill. Oklahoma called timeout at set point, but out of it, Lynch served up an ace to finish the set and solidify a 3-1 lead at 25-23.

Set 4
The fourth frame had Sczech fired up, getting the first point, followed by a Carlson ace. The Bears went up 3-1 off Kara McGhee, then 5-3 from Sczech. OU pushed and got up 9-7 over BU where McGuyre called for a pause. The rest of the set was in Oklahoma’s hands, never trailing despite Baylor putting up a fight. The set ended at 25-20 and the teams were tied at two sets won a piece.

Set 5
With the match on the line in the fifth, Baylor was ready to roar. Lauren Briseño had an ace at 2-1, but OU wanted to keep it even and tied it up all the way to 5-5. Kara McGhee put the Bears ahead at 6-5 with a kill, then got a block with Sczech to solidify it by two. A Carlson ace led BU into the media timeout, up 8-5 over the Sooners. Oklahoma called timeout after an attack error from a Sooner, and Simpson entered the set out of it, where she served up an ace. Sczech continued the momentum with a kill, now leading 11-6. She made it 12-7, then 13-8 when she teamed up with Mallory Talbert on the block. OU pushed, blocking a ball at 13-10, but Harrison reared back and got a kill to bring match point. The set and match was won off the block from Talbert and Elise McGhee at the net.

STAT OF THE MATCH

  *   Lauren Harrison had her second-straight double-double, with 15 kills and 10 digs against the Sooners.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Ryan McGuyre
“Definitely loved how these two [Allie Sczech and Lauren Harrison] helped us finish the fifth set. Lauren responded from getting blocked and was just punishing the ball to the floor. A good, much-improved, well-coached Oklahoma team with heavy hitters swinging away, throwing some healthy attitude through the net. And I liked how Lauren brought it to finish. I thought our blocking didn’t show up until later in the match when we needed it. There’s a lot of parts to the game. There were times when we sided out well, times when we had hiccups. At times, we slowed them down, but then we didn’t transition. At times, we served tough and got aces, and times we were missing way too many serves. I thought we made it hard on ourselves to win, but glad we could sustain it and still put ourselves in position. Very proud of Faith to come in with a big ace at the end of the third set to put us up 2-1. That was a huge, huge momentum shifter.”

WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears get back on the road, traveling to face West Virginia on Saturday, Oct. 8, for a 12pm CT matchup in Morgantown.

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

-BaylorBears.com-

__________________________________

Madelon Allen | Associate Director of Athletics Communications
VB, A&T, BaylorBears.com
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-252-7168

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