Blake Vines | Reporter
After an undefeated Baylor Classic that included sweeps of Saint Mary’s and Rice, the Bears get a week of recovery before their final non-conference matchup against No. 11 Florida Sunday.
“It gives us a week to reflect on this past weekend and this past tournament,” redshirt sophomore setter Harley Kreck said. “To have that week to fix those weaknesses or the small parts that were exposed in the tournament is good, so going into a top-25 matchup, hopefully, if they see a weakness, we would have worked on it this past week.”
Baylor (5-1) is looking to maintain its momentum and focus ahead of a long road trip to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend to face the Gators (4-2). Two days later, the Bears will open Big 12 play against UCF (5-1) in Orlando before returning to Texas for a grudge match against No. 2 Texas (5-0) in Austin.
“We have a pretty deep roster, so many different players who have different strengths and weaknesses,” Kreck said. “That’s been really cool to see, whenever anyone is called upon and they’ve just shone in that role, and we’ve talked about that being a strength of this team this year, just the depth that we have.”
The Bears sit at No. 20 in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll and fifth in the Big 12.
Graduate middle blocker Gabrielle Essix, a Florida transfer, is coming off a season-high 11 kills against Rice. She’ll return to the Gators’ Stephen C. O’Connell Center Sunday for the first time since transferring to Baylor.
“I’m kind of just relying on God to take me through every single moment and relying on my teammates, because I know that they have been one of the biggest blessings of my year,” Essix said.
Essix’s experience has played a big role in a unit with little continuity.
“We will lean into her experience, for sure,” head coach Ryan McGuyre said. “They have had a coaching change over there as well. You know personnel will have some similarities but schemes and things, every coach is going to have their own systems.”
Splitting the middle between two top-25 matchups is UCF, a Big 12 foe the Bears swept last season.
“When we get back from Florida, that’s going to tell us what we need to continue to work on to be more prepared for the next match,” McGuyre said.
With a full week off, the Bears have had to balance emphasizing excitement, focus and motivation.
“We’re going to compete for each other,” McGuyre said. “Really be intentional and throw off distractions and be invested and engaged in what we need to do to be better.”
Baylor will play Florida at noon Sunday in Gainesville. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
