By Harper Mayfield | Sports Writer
Baylor got their first look at Texas Tech this season and came away victorious, but not until going to a full five sets with the Red Raiders. Baylor dropped sets one and four, but took sets two, three, and five to take the match 15-25, 25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 15-9.
Reigning national player of the year Yossiana Pressley starred for Baylor, totaling 27 kills and finishing with a hitting percentage of 30.9. Pressley also moved into the second spot on the Baylor all-time kills list, passing Katie Sanders for possession of the silver medal spot.
“[Lauren Harrison] and Yossi took some big swings on the outside, and seeing both over 20 kills is good,” said head coach Ryan McGuyre.
The Bears struggled in the first set, losing to Tech 25-15. Seven of the set’s first 10 points were scored by Tech, putting Baylor in a hole early. Later in the set, Tech would use a 7-0 run to solidify their set win.
Baylor was able to win sets two and three, and they did so by keeping their errors down. In those sets, Baylor totaled nine errors, as opposed to the 19 made in the remaining three sets. Eighteen of those errors contributed to the two sets lost. Baylor had 10 service errors in the match, more than double the Red Raiders in that category. Those errors allowed Tech to stay competitive, even in the sets Baylor won.
After dropping set four in a nail-biter, the Bears closed out the match in convincing fashion with a six point win in the final set. Baylor out-hit the Red Raiders by a startling margin in the fifth set, with the Bears hit percentage finishing at 55.6, compared to Tech’s mark of 14.3 percent.
“The difference was when Shanel [Bramschreiber] and Yossi were digging some balls for us,” McGuyre said.
Baylor will finish its back-to-back with Tech starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Lubbock’s United Supermarkets Arena. The game can be streamed on Big 12 Now and ESPN+.
