By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
No. 18 Baylor volleyball was looking for a bounce back after losing a sweep to Iowa State Wednesday.
Instead, the Bears (12-8, 7-5 Big 12) continued to struggle, losing to No. 23 Colorado 25-14, 19-25, 15-25, 20-25. The loss marked the team’s fourth straight road defeat and their fifth in the past eight matches.
The Bears are now 2-6 against ranked teams, with the two wins coming at home against No. 9 TCU and No. 17 BYU.
Baylor began the match firing, taking a 9-2 lead behind two kills from freshman outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik and graduate middle blocker Manuela Bibinbe. The Bears held onto their lead to stay ahead 18-12. They won seven of the last nine points to take a 1-0 lead.
The win was the Bears’ first victorious set on the road since their 3-1 win over Texas Tech on Sept. 24.
Rakhmanchik led the team with five kills on nine attacks in the dominant first set. Baylor had four players with three or more kills, while Colorado’s two leaders had two.
The second set started neck-and-neck, with the Buffs leading 8-7. They distanced themselves from the Bears with a 10-4 run. Sydney Jordan led the charge with three kills over 14 rallies. Colorado held on to win the second set 25-19.
Colorado continued to take control of the match.
Ana Burilović helped the Buffs dominate Baylor in the third set. She tallied five kills and a service ace as Colorado took a 2-1 lead with the 25-15 victory. Burilović led the Buffs with 18 kills on the night, double that of Cayla Payne, who was second on the team with nine.
The Bears, trying to keep the match alive, went ahead 6-3 with two blocks and a kill from graduate middle blocker Gabrielle Essix. Colorado came back and won five of the next six points to lead 8-7. The rest of the set went back and forth, but Colorado held onto its lead to hand Baylor its fourth straight road loss.
Rakhmanchik accounted for a career-high 24 of the Bears’ 53 kills on the match, finishing with a .320 hitting percentage.
Redshirt sophomore setter Harley Kreck totaled 40 assists, the sixth time she’s reached that mark this season and the third time in the past five matches.
Baylor returns to the Ferrell Center at 7 p.m. Friday against West Virginia.
