By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
With their backs against the wall and down to their final point Friday night, the Bears were not out. They tied the fourth set at 24 behind a kill from freshman outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik and two Kansas errors.
Junior middle blocker Victoria Davis’ kill sent the Ferrell Center into a frenzy, completing the six-point comeback to force a decisive fifth set.
Baylor fell behind 11-7 and started to rally again behind staunch defense from freshman libero Morgan Madison, but the effort fell short.
No. 15 Baylor (9-4, 4-1 Big 12) lost to No. 18 Kansas (11-7, 2-2 Big 12) 25-19, 19-25, 13-25, 27-25, 13-15.
“It’s hard as a libero to will your team back into it,” head coach Ryan McGuyre said of Madison. “We didn’t block anything really well tonight, so she put it on herself to get some digs.”
The Bears started the first set ahead 8-5 behind three kills from freshman outside hitter Bailey Warren. The Jayhawks answered with a five-point run to take the lead and force head coach Ryan McGuyre to use a timeout.
“I thought we took big swings, got blocked and then we made bad shots where they made big swings that were good shots,” McGuyre said. “We needed to defend the good shots so much better, like we scouted.”
Baylor came out of the timeout swinging with a 4-0 run to retake the lead 12-10. The Bears held onto their lead with a block and kill from junior middle blocker Victoria Davis to secure the first set 25-19.
Kansas’ Jovana Zelenovic dominated the second set, leading all players with six points in the Jayhawks’ 25-19 win to tie the match. She finished the night with 16 kills and three of Kansas’ 17 blocks.
“We were just not choosing the best shots as attackers,” graduate middle blocker Gabrielle Essix said. “I was kind of swinging to swing instead of swinging to score.”
The third set was tight at the beginning, as both teams combined for eight errors to be tied at 10. Kansas broke away, winning 15 of the last 18 points. The Jayhawks won 25-13 in a third set that saw nine errors.
The Bears finished the match with a season-high 41 errors after committing 19 in their win over Houston on Wednesday.
After going down 15-9 in the fourth set, Baylor found momentum off a Kansas timeout and a successful challenge from McGuyre to tie the set at 24. Kills from Davis and Rakhmanchik completed the rally to force a fifth set, where the Bears could not secure the win.
“We do trust each other so much, and sometimes we get in our own heads,” Davis said. “Encouraging each other even more and pouring into each other so we’re able to make those moves and make those great attacks, I think that’s what we really needed toward the end.”
The Jayhawk defense showed out, holding the Bears to a .176 hitting percentage — better only than their mark in a loss to No. 2 Texas on Sept. 20 — and racking up 17 blocks. Kansas had four players with five or more blocks, led by Reese Ptacek’s nine.
“Clearly, they had a big blocking night, and our outsides were struggling a lot,” McGuyre said. “But they were kind of fine on the court at the end of the fourth set.”
While Baylor struggled at the net, liberos Madison and junior Tehani Ulufatu picked it up on the back line. The pair combined for 26 of the team’s 62 digs.
“Her and Tehani are back there getting balls off the floor,” McGuyre said. “That inspired the front row to at least be more aggressive off the digs, give us a chance to take some swings.”
The Bears head out west to take on Arizona State at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz.
