By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
Baylor volleyball has been battle-tested this season. The No. 21-ranked Bears have gone toe-to-toe with No. 10 SMU and No. 11 Florida, taking both squads to a decisive fifth set on the road.
The Bears (6-2) fell behind early in both matches, losing the first set and being forced to fight their way back. Despite the efforts, they fell short against both the Mustangs and Gators.
“You don’t want to go into a hole on the road early,” Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre said. “You’re going to feel like you’re fighting the whole entire night all the way back.”
Their journey will arrive in Austin Friday, when the Bears face off against No. 2 Texas (7-0). Baylor will look to put up as good a fight as it did against SMU and Florida.
“We’re a tough team, and it’s going to be a good battle to just learn and just get better,” freshman outside hitter Bailey Warren said.
The teams will square off in Gregory Gymnasium, which has seen five national championship teams, including back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. The Longhorns won 91% of their matches on their home court between 2019 and 2023.
“We’ve lost in five sets both times,” sophomore outside hitter MJ McCurdy said. “It’ll be really exciting to walk into a really hard environment to play in.”
The Bears showed their resilience in their previous two ranked matchups, tying or taking the lead after trailing 1-0 in both games.
“We always say, ‘There’s one way to play,’” Warren said. “[We’re] going into every match with our heads held high and just being confident and playing our hardest.”
McGuyre said he looks at the team’s losses as stepping stones, believing the Bears could look “significantly different in November and December than even what we are now.”
The team realizes that it needs to strike early to take control of the match and secure its first ranked win.
“After the Florida game, we talked about [how] that’s going to sting, and that losing in five is always hard, especially to someone ranked,” McCurdy said. “We learned that we need to come out stronger.”
The Bears will take their experience against top opponents into Austin, trying to bring adjustments to fruition and lock in a victory.
“After we left Florida, losing that match, we learned so much about ourselves and what we need to do better,” Warren said. “Going into this game, applying what we did learn, if we walk away without a win, just continue to work hard.”
The Bears will take on the Longhorns at 6 p.m. Friday at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin. The match will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
