By Marquis Cooley | Sports Editor
No. 17 Baylor volleyball (3-3) snapped their three-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over No. 7 Florida (4-3) in Gainesville, Fla., at the Exactech Arena on Friday and Saturday. This gives Florida their first back-to-back home non-conference loss since 2014, as well as their first 3-0 loss since March 2020.
In their first match on Friday, Baylor beat Florida 3-1 in a closely contested match. Three out of the four sets were decided by three points or less. The Bears took the first set 27-25 after coming back from being down 10-5 early on. Baylor then went on to lose the second set 25-22 as Florida was able to withstand a late rally from the Bears.
Baylor responded by taking the third set 25-18 and the fourth set 25-23 to win the match 3-1. Senior outside hitter Yossiana Pressley led the Bears with 17 kills while senior outside hitter Avery Skinner had 16. Senior libero and defensive specialist Shanel Bramschreiber led the team in digs with 17 while senior setter Hanna Sedwick recorded 47 assists.
In Saturday’s matchup, the Bears were in complete control, sweeping Florida in three straight sets and not allowing the Gators to score 20 in any of them.
“A great team second-night performance. We feel the better team wins on night two so I’m really proud of our girls,” head coach Ryan McGuyre said. “As far as listening to the adjustments that we made, I thought Hannah Sedwick did a phenomenal job with her decisions and her set location. We were able to take some swings and show them some different looks offensively that opened it up and had us hitting at a much higher percentage tonight than we did the night before. I’m also proud of the adjustments we made on defense to slow them down and limit them a little bit more. I thought we served so much better to challenge them. We were able to keep the pressure on from the first point forward.”
On Saturday Baylor started off the match hot, scoring five consecutive points to open the first set and ultimately winning it 25-19.
The Bears kept the momentum going in the second set as junior outside hitter Lauren Harrison started the set with two kills to give Baylor a 2-0 lead. The Gators kept it close, however, tying the set at 15. The Bears then went on to pick up steam winning the set 25-18.
In the third set, Baylor didn’t let off the gas as they led the Gators 12-3 at one point and never looked back, winning the set 25-16 and the match 3-0. Harrison had a .500 attack percentage and led the Bears in kills with 14. Sedwick had 34 assists, giving her 81 total assists throughout the weekend.
Next up, the Bears will host Rice University and McNeese State University in the Baylor Classic from September 16-18 in the Ferrell Center.
