By Cody Soto
Sports Writer
Baylor volleyball couldn’t close out its Big 12 contest against No. 23 Kansas State Saturday night and dropped three straight sets to lose the match 3-2 at the Ferrell Center.
The loss was the first time this season that the Bears (14-14, 4-9 Big 12) were up 2-0 in a match and dropped a five-set decision. Baylor had previously defeated the Wildcats in five sets to start out conference play in Manhattan, Kan., on Sept. 27.
“We hit the ball out. If we would just keep the ball in the court we’d win the game,” head coach Jim Barnes said. “On the first two sets, we did a good job of taking care of the ball. We are a very talented team, but when we hit the ball out, we miss our shots, and that’s what happened on sets three, four, and five.”
Junior outside hitter Andie Malloy led the team with 21 kills and 14 digs in the loss, followed by freshman outside hitter Katie Staiger with 15 on a .250 hitting percentage.
Senior libero Hope Ogden recorded 19 digs in the match while usual starter Jana Brusek sat out due to injury.
The Bears dominated the first two sets with 18 and 16 kills, respectively. Baylor’s .393 attack effort in the second set forced the Wildcats to play from behind the entire match, and the Bears headed into the locker room with a 2-0 lead in the game.
Kansas State limited Baylor to 28 kills and forced 16 errors in the final three frames and scored 39 kills of their own. The Wildcats took control of the fifth set with 14 kills with only one error to take the win in Waco. The Bears only had five kills in the final frame to drop its ninth Big 12 game this season.
“[On Saturday], we played two really good sets where we kept the ball in play, but we had three really bad ones of hitting it out,” Barnes said. “The girls fight hard, but we just had too many errors.”
The Bears host their final home match at the Ferrell Center on Wednesday night against No. 5 Texas before going on the road to face West Virginia and Iowa State to wrap up conference play.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will air live on Fox Sports Southwest.
