By Foster Nicholas | Sport Writer
Eyeing a bounce back after being swept on Tuesday, No. 18 Baylor volleyball opened the 13th annual Baylor Invitational by taking down LSU in a four-set thriller — 25-16, 23-25, 25-21, 30-28 — on Thursday night at the Ferrell Center.
Head coach Ryan McGuyre and the Bears continue their hot start, moving to 6-2 on the season. With the lowest hit percentage under McGuyre coming just a few days prior, execution was a must against the Tigers (5-2).
“Definitely disappointed with performance on Tuesday, so we wanted to get out here and be able to respond. Offensively, we got going again hitting .300 in the last three sets,” McGuyre said. “This match I felt like was ours for the taking, and [we] shouldn’t have let that second set slip away. I thought I kind of gave it to them, so we gotta be a little bit tougher and a little bit more mature in those situations.”
The Bears came out of the gate hot, jolting to a 6-0 lead and forcing an LSU timeout as they boosted the advantage to 12-5. The Tigers wouldn’t sniff the green and gold for the rest of the first set as graduate student setter Jackie Barrett Frazier and senior outside hitter Elise McGhee combined for eight kills and three aces in the 25-16 first set.
Baylor steadily took an advantage in set two as redshirt junior middle blocker Alicia Andrew and sophomore outside hitter Kendal Murphy paired together kills to force a timeout with a 15-10 advantage. However, LSU strung together an offensive rally and an ace to put itself on top 17-16. The mid-set lead was the first time the Tigers were in poll position up to that point.
“We always want to start really hot and get in rhythm early in the set instead of waiting,” McGhee said. “But, I think that the emphasis was mostly on executing the game plan and being so fast and disciplined.”
Although the green and gold edged out the win, it wasn’t without their fair share of miscues. Baylor recorded 16 service errors, the most this season. After five service errors by the Bears in the second set, LSU sophomore outside hitter Jurnee Robinson, the NCAA leader in kills and points, silenced the Bears with a wicked kill to steal the set 25-23.
“Speaking from experience, it’s kind of hard to get back there, and you all want to go for it and get in and get them out of system. But I think that once one person starts missing, it can kind of be a domino effect,” McGhee said.
The service error bug smacked the Tigers in the third set as nine serves sailed out of bounds. McGhee added three of her team-leading 20 kills early in the third set and pulled the Bears to a 10-7 lead. But after two more service errors on the green and gold, LSU brought the match to 15-12 and McGuyre called a timeout in frustration, slamming his clipboard into the Baylor bench.
After the timeout, Andrew and senior middle blocker Manuela Bibinbe dominated on the net and the Bears swiped the set.
Neither squad found a rhythm in the fourth and final set as the teams traded points to an 11-11 start. Baylor went the entirety of the set without logging three tallies in a row, and the LSU attack folded to the Bear defense every other play. The green and gold could have finished early as McGhee rose for a kill that narrowly bounced outside the line, leaving the momentum to win intact with a score 25-25 score. The squads traded blows, but Murphy came through clutch with a spike over a wall of blockers in the middle.
“There were good rotations for LSU and some bad rotations. So, we just wanted to capitalize the bad rotations, and try and make those runs of three, which we didn’t get, but at least making sure we’re getting one or two points back there from the service line.” McGuyre said. “[It’s good to] get a win and then get after it again on Sunday against another good team, good opponent.”
The Baylor Invitational continues at 1 p.m. Sunday when the Bears take on Samford (5-0). LSU will take on the Bulldogs at 5 p.m. Friday as part of the round-robin tournament.
