By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
While No. 17 Baylor volleyball swept UCF, 3-0, on Saturday at the Ferrell Center, two major milestones were achieved that afternoon.
The Bears (17-6, 9-3 Big 12) knocked off the Knights (8-13, 1-11 Big 12) in only three sets, barely enough time for senior libero Lauren Briseño and senior outside hitter Elise McGhee to reach individual milestones.
Briseño’s only service ace of the game moved her up to fifth in program history in career service aces. She surpassed Stella Odion, who played with the Bears from 2002-2005 and had 80 service aces, establishing Briseño’s place in the Baylor record books.
Head coach Ryan McGuyre said while Briseño was quiet in the game in terms of digs (17), the team is confident in her abilities and being in the record book multiple times showcases her abilities.
“It’s just cool to have Lauren on the floor … there’s a steadiness and an expectation that everyone’s just so confident in her and her abilities,” McGuyre said. “She’s in the record books in digs, in the record book in aces.”
McGuyre also said Briseño has made serving an important aspect of how she plays but has been exceptional in all parts of her game.
“I think for me, for the aces, like in her freshman year out of our six servers, we challenged her like she was the weakest of our six,” McGuyre said. “I think she took that to heart from sophomore year on and has really made that an important part of her game, as well as the phenomenal job setting out of system for us, plus the digging and passing, which we expect from the liberos.”
However, despite achieving a service ace record in the game, the Bears were also guilty of producing 13 service errors.
“I think tonight part of [the service errors] was unfortunately a little bit making sure our girls felt like they were in the moment in every ball matter,” McGuyre said. “I think the sting of the service errors probably didn’t affect us enough to be like, ‘no, hey, we got to go back there and do it.’”
McGhee produced 17 kills in the game, which was enough to give her a new career milestone of 1,000 kills. Besides her production in kills, she also racked up 10 digs, giving her a double-double.
“Playing six rows is something that I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s hard,” McGhee said. “But I feel like having Lauren back there doing great – and then Tehani [Ulufatu] and Jackie [Barrett Frazier] – just like all of our back row defense has definitely made me feel more comfortable in that aspect.”
McGuyre said Elise’s impact can’t be summarized in just 1,000 kills, because there is so much that she contributes to the team and to the game. Especially the journey she has gone through to get to this point has led to her success.
“[Her 1,000 kills are] years of prep before she got to Baylor when she’s a sophomore, junior, senior, getting ready to come here,” McGuyre said. “That’s a lot of weathering storms and disappointments of freshman year playing and not playing. That’s a lot of battles of starting, not starting. It’s a lot of pushing through of front row and back row, front row only, working through it.”
McGuyre also said McGhee has been like a teacher for the team and is able to teach her wisdom of volleyball as well as teach wisdom of life to her teammates.
“Elise is always learning, an incredible learner, and so I think that’s why the game’s fun for her because she’s able to apply things,” McGuyre said. “We’ve got a lot of season left, but when you remove a 1,000-kill hitter, there’s a lot of work [to be done]. But I know she’s leaving a legacy for others to step up and be the next 1,000-kill person.”
The Bears will road trip next week to face off against Kansas State on Wednesday at Morgan Family Arena and then face Kansas on Saturday at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
