LTVN’s Braden Murray breaks down the Bears’ dominant win over the Bearcats.
Head coach Ryan McGuyre shifted around the starting lineup looking to bounce back from three straight losses. Redshirt freshman setting Harley Kreck, freshman opposite hitter Grace Carroll and junior outside hitter Sophia Kenne slotted into the starting lineup for the first start this season.
The changes worked early on for Baylor (11-6, 3-3 Big 12) as it opened the first set with a 6-1 run, featuring back-to-back aces from graduate student setter Jackie Barrett Frazier. After a kill by senior outside hitter Elise McGhee to give the Bears a 10-9 lead, they built on the momentum with a .467 hit percentage in the set. McGhee sealed the first set, 25-18, with a cross-court kill that danced across the top of the net before landing on Cincinnati’s side of the floor.
After a successful challenge on the first play, the Bearcats (11-6, 2-4 Big 12) opened the second set on a 4-0 run. The Bears showed their claws right after with a 5-0 run in response. Cincinnati quickly came firing back as neither team could string more than two more points in a row. Barrett Frazier served up a pair of pancake digs on the same point to spur the momentum back in Baylor’s favor.
“[I was] just making sure the ball doesn’t drop. I might have read it a little late, but still, you’ve got to give it all,” Barrett Frazier said. “My husband’s best friend calls me the pancake queen, so it’s kind of fun that I get to live that legacy.”
If no errors weren’t enough, junior opposite hitter Allie Sczech finished second on the team in kills with 11 with a .500 hit percentage on the game. Sczech came to life to close the second set with five of the last six points off of three kills and two blocks, helping close the second set, 25-16.
“My dad growing up always told me, ‘Regardless of how you’re doing, always be the closer. Always be the one that they can go to at the end,'” Sczech said. “I had the opportunity to take it tonight, we’ve been talking about in practice, so I was like, ‘Lock in, take this as serious as possible, and be [the closer] regardless of who’s on the other side of the net.”’
As the Bears settled into the game after winning the first two sets, the Bearcats snuck up with a 4-0 lead to open the third set. Without skipping a beat, Baylor saw an opportunity and slapped back with a 5-0 run of its own right after.
After going point-for-point with the Bearcats, Baylor fell behind 13-11, prompting McGuyre to call timeout. The Bears responded to McGuyre’s message as they won the race to 20. From there it was a steady climb to victory as they won the set and match, 25-20, with senior libero Lauren Briseño clinching the final point with a service ace.
“We only had two errors in the first set, two errors in the second set, [in the third set we had] nine attack errors, plus six or seven missed serves. That’s 15 of their their 20 points right there. So we’ll work on it,” McGuyre said. “But then it was great serves to finish. We put it on them and ended with an ace.”
The Bears will be back in action at 7 p.m. Wednesday to clash with Houston (8-8, 3-3 Big 12) at Fertitta Center in Houston.
