By Nathan Keil | Sports Writer
The Baylor volleyball team bounced back on Saturday to win its final two matches of the Hampton Inn & Suites Baylor Invitational, tallying victories over Prairie View A&M and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
After being stunned by the University of Texas Rio Grand Valley on Friday, the Lady Bears refused to let that bad taste linger as they jumped all over the Panthers from the first volley and never let them settle into any rhythm, en route to a 25-12, 25-16, 25-20 win.
“The intensity was really turned up just mentally for us,” junior libero Jana Brusek said. “We have a game-plan, and we’re going to execute it.”
The Lady Bears came out strong against Texas A&M Corpus Christi en route to a 25-15 first set win. After struggling to execute in dropping the second set, 25-7, the Lady Bears elevated their game to an entirely new level, winning the third and fourth sets, 25-20 and 25-15.
Although Baylor did not get the full result they were hoping for coming into this weekend, head coach Ryan McGuyre was pleased with the improvement he saw from his players.
“We were a lot cleaner with our touches,” McGuyre said. “We served a little more aggressive which helps our defense. We limited our errors and got better swings.”
The Lady Bears look to continue improving as they assert themselves as a threat to win the Big 12.
“We’re not satisfied yet,” Brusek said. “We’re not ready. This is just the beginning for us. We need some cleaner touches and better serve receives. We need to make improvements across the board, so I think that means a lot for us. I think when we succeed at doing that, we’ll go far.”
Despite all three teams finishing 2-1 in the tournament, Texas Rio Grand Valley was declared the champion based on their 8-4 set record. Baylor’s redshirt junior outside hitter Katie Staiger was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
The Lady Bears return to action 6:30 p.m. Tuesday as they travel to San Marcos to take on Texas State.
