By Cody Soto
Sports Writer

Baylor (8-2) took care of business Saturday morning and defeated Columbia (3-3) in straight sets (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) to leave the George Washington Invitational as undefeated tournament champions.

Despite only hitting .133 in the match, the Bears posted 39 kills opposed to Columbia’s 30 in Saturday’s match. Baylor held Columbia to a .093 hitting percentage during the match.

Junior outside hitter Andie Malloy led the Bears with 11 kills and hit .259 in the three-set win. Malloy was the only Baylor player with double-digit kills.

Sophomore outside hitter Katie Staiger added eight kills, followed by junior middle hitter Adrien Richburg with seven and sophomore middle hitter Tola Itiola with six.

Junior setter Amy Rosenbaum led all players with 33 assists in the win. Senior libero Hope Ogden contributed 21 digs from the back row, and senior outside hitter Nicole Bardaji added 10 for the Bears.

The Bears took a 12-6 lead early in the opening set and did not hold up the entire set. Despite hitting .143, Baylor’s 13 kills were enough to take the first set 25-20. The Lion only hit .100 in the opening set and added seven errors to give Baylor the set win.

Both teams tied it up at 5-5 to start out the second set before Baylor took a 7-1 run to extend their lead and surge ahead of Columbia. The Lions managed to come within one point 14-13 before the Bears used a 7-2 run to extend their lead and eventually take the second set 25-21 and head into the locker room up two sets to none.

Behind the Bears’ 14 kills in the third set, Baylor was able to sweep Columbia in the third set with a 25-22 win. Both teams hit .140 and .132, respectively. Bardaji was able to bury the ball away to score the final point and give Baylor the 3-0 sweep.

After winning four straight road matches, Baylor will return back to Waco to face Northwestern State in the Ferrell Center on Tuesday. The game is set for 7 p.m.