Volleyball ramps up for season with annual green and gold scrimmage

Sophomore outside hitter Yossiana Pressley skies for the kill in Baylor's annual green and gold scrimmage. Pressley finished with 19 kills in a 2-3 losing effort to the green team. Photo credit: Jason Pedreros | Multimedia Journalist

By Ben Everett | Sports Editor

Baylor volleyball held its annual green and gold scrimmage Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center, where green defeated gold 3-2.

Senior opposite hitter Ashley Fritcher started the first set with back-to-back kills to propel gold to a 5-1 lead in the first set.

After gold took a 15-11 lead into the timeout, green went on a 7-1 run, including two kills by redshirt freshman opposite hitter Marieke van der Mark to make it 18-16.

Tied at 23-23, gold finished off the set with two straight kills to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The second set started off with back-and-forth scoring, but gold pulled ahead 16-11 on three kills from sophomore outside hitter Yossiana Pressley.

Gold held the lead the rest of the way, taking the second set 25-18. Pressley recorded eight kills in the set to give her team a commanding 2-0 lead.

In the third set, green came out firing to grab a 14-9 lead at the timeout. Gold had no answer for senior outside hitter Aniah Philo, who notched eight kills en route to a 25-23 win to make a 2-1 match.

The fourth set saw green jump out to a 13-8 lead, but Pressley led a comeback with three straight kills to cut the lead to 14-13 going into the media timeout.

Both sides retaliated through the fourth set, but green pulled away 25-22 after gold committed back-to-back errors.

Tied at 2-2 going into the fifth set, Philo registered four kills and the green team took the 15-8 win in the final set after it was called at the media timeout.

Pressley, who finished the match with 19 kills, said moving to outside hitter after playing opposite hitter last season will be a welcome change.

“I’m so excited,” Pressley said. “It’s just natural for me, and I’m just excited to get out there and show them what I’ve got again.”

Head coach Ryan McGuyre said the team is so deep that they don’t know who their starters will be this season.

“We don’t really ever practice A team versus B team,” McGuyre said. “We’re very interchangeable in what we’re doing and I think that’s been a testament to some of the wins we’ve had, were girls coming off the bench, really put us over the top.”

The Lady Bears open the regular season against LSU at 7 p.m. Friday at the Ferrell Center.