By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Nearly pulling off a historic upset over No. 5 Texas, No. 20 Baylor volleyball lost three straight sets and fell to the Longhorns 3-2 on Thursday in the Gregory Gymnasium in Austin.
The Bears found themselves on the brink of history after winning the first two sets, 25-21, 29-27. Baylor (12-8, 6-4 Big 12) entered the night 4-91 all-time against Texas, including an 0-48 mark in Austin. The Bears had the chance to send their longtime foe to the SEC with a parting gift for the history books.
But the defending national champions hit the gas, winning the final three sets, 25-11, 25-11, 15-10, to keep their perfect conference record intact.
“Definitely disappointed,” Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre said after the game. “Proud of them in our start, disappointed in our finish. … If you compartmentalize it, like I said, lots of … great, competitive, elite-level plays that were good to see.
“For us, it’s, ‘How can we be more consistent?’ Baylor at its best I think can beat anybody in the country at its best. We’ve said this all the time. We just have to train in a way where us at our worst is still better than [other teams] at their best.”
Baylor opened the game with a quick 3-0 run on kills by junior outside hitter Elise McGhee, sophomore opposite hitter Allie Sczech and junior middle blocker Manuela Bibinbe, which prompted the Longhorns to call their first timeout. They called another after falling behind 8-3 — and trailing five kills to one — but never took the lead.
A late run by Sczech clinched the set. After she made an attack error to let the Longhorns come within three, 21-18, she scored three of the Bears’ final four points to close out a 33-minute battle that saw 31 combined digs. Sczech and McGhee led the offense with five kills each.
The second set opened as a mirror image of the first. Texas opened on a 4-0 run — including three errors by Baylor — before a counteroffensive flipped the script. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter and opposite hitter Riley Simpson led the Bears on a 7-1 run to take a 10-7 lead, as the Longhorns took their third timeout. Baylor was winning the defensive battle with 22 kills to Texas’ 14.
But then, UT turned on the jets.
The Longhorns scored six of the next seven to tie the game at 15. Third Team All-American and junior outside hitter Madisen Skinner — the younger sister of former Baylor outside hitter Avery Skinner — scored the Longhorns’ third service ace in seven plays to take a 17-16 lead.
A chorus of boos rained down after referees reversed a controversial out-of-bounds call to Baylor’s favor. With a razor-thin margin, a Skinner attack error tied the set at 22, and two more Longhorn errors made it 24-23, before senior opposite Molly Phillips answered coming out of a timeout.
Skinner scored again for match point, but Sczech answered with a kill of her own. McGhee scored on a long crosscourt shot, but Skinner fired back, and a McGhee attack error gave the Longhorns another shot. She returned the favor with another kill, tying the game yet again.
Simpson won a battle at the net to take a 28-27 lead before Texas’ freshman setter Ella Swindle made an attack error to end the set. Final score for the second set was 29-27, and Baylor drew within a set of history.
The prospect of doing the unprecedented didn’t entice the Longhorns, who dominated the third set. Texas opened with a 3-0 lead and never looked back, piecing together runs of four, four and five points. The Longhorns scored nine of the final 10 to win their first set, 25-11.
Texas limited mistakes, as after committing 18 errors across the first two sets, the Longhorns made just four in the third, with none coming after the 10-7 mark.
The fourth set brought more of the same, as Texas scored seven of the first eight points. The pendulum of momentum briefly swung back Baylor’s way, as the Bears went on a 4-1 run, including Texas’ first service error since early in the third set. But the Longhorns pulled away again, scoring seven of nine to go up 17-9. They closed out the set on a 7-0 run, scoring 11 of the final 13 to win the penultimate set, 25-11.
With consecutive 14-point wins and all the momentum, the Longhorns headed into the fifth riding high. They scored three straight early on, gave up a point and did it again. Baylor couldn’t close the gap, and an 8-4 deficit quickly turned into a 15-10 final. After a two-set lead slipped out of the Bears’ hands, McGuyre’s postgame message to his team was simple.
“You can’t win if you play it safe,” McGuyre said.
Thursday marked Baylor’s first reverse-sweep loss since Oct. 1, 2021, against Texas Tech. The Bears will be back in Gregory Gym at 7 p.m. on Friday for their final matchup with Texas as conference foes.
