By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Live on ESPN for the first time this season, No. 20 Baylor volleyball lost its yearly grudge match against No. 8 Texas in a three-set dogfight, 17-25, 23-25, 24-26.
The largest-ever Golden Wave Band to perform at a Baylor volleyball game serenaded an announced 3,126 fans, the eighth-highest in program history. Six of the team’s top 10 Ferrell Center crowds have come against the Longhorns, including a record-setting 7,357 in 2019.
Early season hitting woes continued in the first set for the Bears on Wednesday night. Just eight days removed from posting a historically inefficient hitting percentage (0.020) in a three-set loss to SMU, the Bears seemed on the verge of challenging that number, hitting eight for 32 with five attack errors. If it weren’t for redshirt junior middle blocker Alicia Andrew’s lights-out performance, their first-set percentage would’ve dropped to a flat 0.000.
But it wasn’t just the hitting. A half-dozen would-be blocks spun down on Baylors side of the court. Senior outside hitter Elise McGhee, delivering her signature arcing serves with impressive accuracy, was repeatedly foiled by last-second digs. The offense didn’t help, but what really caught up with the Bears was a long string of ‘almosts.’
Even in that 25-17 loss, the defense did its job, holding senior Madisen Skinner – Texas’ star outside hitter and the reigning VolleyballMag National Player of the Year – to three kills on seven attempts. (She finished the game with 14.) The Longhorns’ 10 total service errors were their highest road figure since Nov. 2021. And it didn’t take long for the tide to turn.
The second set saw the Bears embrace a smashmouth style of volleyball, bullying the Longhorns up the middle behind middle blockers Andrew’s and Manuela Bibinbe’s headlining performances. The pair’s combined five for seven scoring line (plus two digs and a block to boot) brought Baylor within two points of tying the match until McGhee’s lone service error teed up Texas junior outside hitter Devin Kahahawai for a set-ending kill.
The battle raged throughout the final set. Baylor led late by as many as four, as a service error gave the Bears a late 22-18 lead. Then the Longhorns turned on the jets. Sophomore setter Ella Swindle, splitting reps with former Baylor star Averi Carlson, lofted a perfect set to redshirt senior opposite hitter Reagan Rutherford. And so it began.
Carlson subbed in and immediately drilled a service ace, then set up Skinner for her 12th kill of the game. The defending national champions capitalized on the momentum with a 5-0 run, taking their first lead of the set since 1-0. Skinner’s final kill kicked off a 3-0 run that proved to be the final blow; after trailing 22-18, the Longhorns finished the game on an 8-2 run to secure their second consecutive sweep in the series.
This loss is another installment in a concerning trend for the Bears, who have started slow and struggled to consistently create offense in recent weeks. In four games against teams currently in the AVCA top 25 — No. 17 Minnesota, No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 22 SMU and No. 8 Texas, all at home — the Bears are 0-4 in opening sets. Last year’s Bears went 5-6 in opening sets against ranked teams, including a 4-0 mark at home.
With a much-improved home atmosphere in the revamped Ferrell Center, and consistent evidence of fight in later sets, the Bears have all the pieces in place to get out to faster starts. But great defense can only get a team so far when they’re consistently playing from behind.
Baylor has three more games before concluding their nine-game epoch of a homestand. The key stat to watch, as much as the win column, is how the Bears start. Momentum isn’t everything, but this team is too talented — and has shown too much fight — to keep digging itself into first-set deficits.
