By Grant Morrison | Sports Writer
After taking the first set to a 24-24 tie, No. 18 Baylor volleyball struggled to find its footing against a dominant No. 23 BYU attack, falling in three sets, 26-24, 25-21, 25-13, Thursday night at George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah.
Early on, the Bears (10-5, 2-2 Big 12) were powered by their aggressive middle blocker duo. Senior Manuela Bibenbe and junior Alicia Andrew started perfect, killing on each of their first three and five attacks, respectively. Both teams played a clean match until a stray attack from BYU freshman outside hitter Elli Mortensen marked the first error for either team, pushing Baylor to a 9-7 lead.
But Mortensen quickly sharpened up, hitting her way to a .500 percentage by the end of the game. Her attacks led the Cougars to a 23-20 lead as the green and gold struggled to counter. A pair of back-to-back kills from senior outside hitter Elise McGhee kept Baylor competitive, but the Cougars found set point 24-23. A strong closing effort wasn’t enough to stop BYU from taking the set 26-24.
Baylor hit a respectable .314 to BYU’s .341 in the first set, but a rocky start to the second set left the Bears shaken. Junior opposite hitter Allie Sczech led the charge with two quick kills after a quiet first set, but back-to-back aces from BYU junior libero Hannah Billeter gave them the 9-7 lead.
The Cougars consistently kept the Bears at arm’s length, with a two-to-three point margin through much of the second set. By the 12-11, BYU had failed both of its challenge attempts, while Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre had succeeded on three of his four. The eagle-eyed players and well timed challenges were worth a six-point swing, but the Bears still dropped the set 25-21.
In a familiar refrain of the last few matches, Baylor struggled to stay competitive in the third set. The first point was a kill at lightning speed off the face of graduate student setter Jackie Barrett Frazier, which set the tone for the rest of the set. Mortensen increased her kill count to 17 and was followed by sophomore outside hitter Claire Little, notching 14. The Bears had no answers for the Cougar offense, reeling at the early onslaught and burning both timeouts by the 11-4 mark.
BYU steamrolled their way through an 8-0 scoring run, and bullied the Baylor defense. For the third straight set, the home team was the first to reach 20 points, this time before the Bears scored more than eight. With a .520 hitting percentage in the third set to the Bears’ .032, the Cougars dominated the third frame from start to finish.
It was the second straight upset for the Bears after Sunday’s loss to No. 17 TCU, dropping Baylor’s conference record to 2-2. The team will have a chance to regain a winning record against Utah (4-1 Big 12) at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
