By Savannah Cooper | Broadcast Reporter
No. 24-ranked Baylor volleyball fell short against the Kansas State Wildcats 3-0 on Saturday afternoon in the Ferrell Center.
Coming off a big win in Morgantown, W.Va., last week, the Lady Bears came out strong offensively but then struggled to gain continuous points through the three-set match.
Junior middle blocker Shelly Fanning said she knew her team had a good game plan going into the match, but throughout the match they failed to execute on too many occasions.
“Coming into this game, we definitely didn’t want to overlook [Kansas State],” Fanning said. “I think we had a really good game plan. It was more about execution that we need to clean up. We knew they are a good team and we knew that we would have to play our best volleyball to beat them.”
With sophomore outside hitter Yossiana Pressley back and healthy after missing two games with an undisclosed injury, the Bears came out hot with a 4-0 start in the first set, pushing Kansas State to call an early timeout. After that timeout, the Wildcats were able to challenge every offensive attack from Baylor.
Due to several long rallies and digs from both sides of the net, the score kept going back and forth until the Bears took the lead. At 21-20, however, Kansas State gained their first lead on the match. The Bears then struggled to get consistent stops, which allowed Kansas State to pull away at the end of the first set 25-23.
The second set consisted of with heavy blocking at the net from Kansas State and further back and forth scoring. Baylor continued to chip away at the scoreboard, but Kansas State’s defense quickly responded to Baylor’s offensive ploys resulting in another win at 27-25.
During the match, Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre used two challenge cards, costing him timeouts. Both calls, however, were ruled in the Wildcats’ favor.
After a third 25-all then 26-all third set, Kansas State pulled away 28-26 and shut out the Bears 3-0.
Sophomore setter Hannah Lockin said she felt the back-and-forth match showed the Lady Bears that they need to bring more fight to each battle.
“K-State is a strong team and I feel like we knew what we needed to do, but we couldn’t quite execute this game,” Lockin said. “It was very back and forth. We had the fight, we had the battle, but we just need to keep bringing more fight, more battle and just getting it done because we are very capable.”
The Bears face TCU at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Fort Worth.
