By Harper Mayfield | Sports Writer
Baylor polished off its weekend in Iowa with a second consecutive sweep of Iowa State, extending their set win streak to 12 and their win streak in Ames, Iowa to five with a 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 win.
Another streak continued by the Bears was their run of dominance on the second day of back-to-backs. Baylor has yet to lose a set to finish a weekend, sweeping all of Kansas, TCU, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and now Iowa State.
The Bears were dominant statistically, leading in all but one stat category. Senior outside hitter Yossiana Pressley finished with 12 kills, while sophomore middle blocker Kara McGhee and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Lauren Harrison finished with nine and eight kills, respectively.
McGhee had an especially productive night, adding 11 blocks, 15.5 total points, and a hitting percentage of 28.6 to her nine kills. McGhee’s 11 blocks is the highest total posted by a Baylor player this season, eclipsing Laché Harper’s eight against Texas Tech.
“I’ve just been focusing and keying in on what we’ve been working on in practice. Really just going all in and playing one way helped me to make an impact tonight,” McGhee said.
The initial set was hotly contested, and Baylor came out with a 25-22 victory. That victory was hard earned, as Baylor was down by four multiple times during the set. Baylor was also in the hole as late as 22-21, but went on a 4-0 run to put the set away. That 4-0 run was buoyed by a series of Iowa State errors, all coming on the final three serves.
The second set was also competitive, but the Bears were able to get out a little earlier, taking the set 25-20. Iowa State went on a two point run late in the set, but Baylor was able to quiet the Cyclones with an ace from junior libero Shanel Bramschreiber to close the set. That lone ace was one of two from the Bears on the night, and Bramschreiber’s sixth on the season.
The final set ended much the same as the second, with Baylor pulling out a 25-20 win. Baylor went on a 5-0 run early in the match and never looked back. Iowa State would pull within one at the 21-20 point of the match, but a 4-0 run from the Bears brought home the set and the sweep.
Baylor’s next pair of matches will see West Virginia come to Waco to face off with the Bears in the Ferrell Center. The matches will be played on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. and Friday at 5:00 p.m. The first match will be watchable on ESPNU, while the second one will be streamed on Big 12 Now and ESPN+.
