By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer
No. 14 Baylor volleyball defeated McNeese on Friday night to complete the sweep through of the Baylor Classic. The Bears also defeated the University of Tulsa and Sam Houston State University each in three sets. They have now won nine straight matches, including sweeps in the last eight.
“[It’s] good to get out of here with a 3-0 sweep and kept them under 20 the whole time. We did better from the service line tonight, 3-to-1 ratio on service to errors, and a high percentage of balls hit,” head coach Ryan McGuyre said.
Redshirt freshman outsider hitter Riley Simpson led the Bears in kills with 13 to go along with seven digs. Freshman opposite side hitter Allie Sczech followed with 10 kills of her own, as well as four digs and three blocks.
Freshman setter Averi Carlson finished with 38 assists, eight digs, two blocks and two aces, all in just three sets of play.
Early on in the first set, McNeese (4-10) and Baylor (10-2) were firing back-and-forth with neither being able to pull away. The Bears took their first lead of the set at 8-7. Midway through the set, Baylor went on a quick 7-2 run to take a 17-12 lead, where they began to separate themselves from McNeese. They were able to take the first set 25-18.
Baylor got on the board first in the second set following an ace from Carlson to kick things off. Things were close to start once again but the Bears got back into rhythm jumping out to a 13-8 lead. They carried this momentum all the way to another 25-18 set-win, taking a 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, Baylor came out swinging hard, building its way to a fast 10-3 lead. The Bears kept McNeese at a distance throughout the set, holding a 15-7 lead before a media timeout. They kept chipping away and eventually completed the sweep with a 25-17 win.
“It feels great honestly,” Sczech said. “We’re looking forward to conference. We’re looking forward to having a full week of practice, we haven’t really had that this whole preseason. So, it’s going to be great to get in the gym and fine tune the things we need to work on before we play TCU on Wednesday.”
Baylor now awaits its conference opener against Texas Christian University at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center.
