By Bennett Parker | Sports Writer
No. 24 Baylor volleyball entered Sunday coming off a reverse sweep of Houston Friday night.
The Bears found themselves in the opposite position Sunday, leading No. 17 Kansas two sets to none.
Despite Baylor (13-6, 5-3 Big 12) running on the energy of five straight sets won, the Jayhawks (14-5, 7-2 Big 12) balanced out the Bears’ weekend, claiming a reverse sweep of their own.
No. 24 Baylor had plenty of opportunities in the fourth and fifth sets, but multiple attacking threats from Kansas bested the Bears’ defensive efforts. The Jayhawks snapped Baylor’s four-match win streak, winning in five sets, 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 21-25, 13-15.
Kansas shifted the game plan after dropping the first two sets, feeding different arms on the attack instead of relying on their top hitters, and Baylor struggled to adjust.
“They were pretty balanced coming in,” McGuyre said about the Kansas hitters. “Early on, they put it over their strengths, and we did okay on their strengths. And then they did a good job moving the ball around and countering, finding some soft spots on us. And good job relying on all hitters to make some good plays.”
The Kansas hitting ticked up in the third set, reaching a 15-13 lead at a .429 clip with just one error. The Jayhawks pushed to a 22-17 lead that a late Bears push could not overcome. Kansas hit .312 and avoided the sweep, taking the third set 25-21.
“They ran their middles a lot more,” McGuyre said. “The middles weren’t always attacking the ball, but they moved the ball around and placed it instead of blocking. We were a little bit behind on catching up to the middle speed. And then the defense was slow to pick up some of the spots.”
Multiple 3-0 runs and a .643 hitting percentage propelled Baylor to a 15-11 lead in the fourth set. It looked like Baylor was going to coast to the finish line, but Kansas answered with a 6-0 run that involved a trio of errors from the Bears. Three late kills and a block from Warren were not enough to avoid a fifth set, as the Jayhawks survived another win-or-go-home set, 25-21.
Baylor was the first team to five points and the first team to 10 points in the fifth set but couldn’t handle a 6-2 Kansas run that involved several long rallies. In the 10th set in three days for the Bears, the fatigue had clearly taken effect.
“[The fatigue] doesn’t help,” McGuyre said. “Clearly, we looked fresh there early. Those rallies and those balls could have gone either way. So, hard to say. The girls worked pretty hard.”
Baylor came away with the hard-fought first set thanks to some of the back row’s strongest defense. The team had 17 digs with eight different Bears contributing to the figure. Rakhmanchik came in swinging yet again, with a stellar eight kills on over .400 hitting in the opening set, leading the charge to a 25-23 win.
“I thought we made some great digs,” head coach Ryan McGuyre said. “Where they hit it really hard and had some exceptional plays on it. … There were a lot of outstanding, highlight-type digs in the first set, which helped us pull away and definitely made a difference in that.”
Baylor elevated to a higher level early in the second set, pulling ahead 10-4 and later 19-10. Kansas clawed all the way back with an 11-2 run to tie the set at 21.
A well-timed McGuyre timeout spurred on a 4-1 surge past the Jayhawks in the second set. Rakhmanchik added seven more kills, and the Bears held the Jayhawks to a .146 hitting percentage, winning the set 25-22.
The Bears have another chance to best the Jayhawks in a couple of weeks in what will be a crucial road match for the Bears.
“Definitely excited to already get to face them again,” sophomore libero Morgan Madison said. “They’re a great team. Getting to play in that environment and against a great team like that is something where we want to rise to the occasion and come out stronger.”
Sophomore outside hitter Bailey Warren shined with a season-high 15 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik notched her third straight 23-kill performance and second double-double of the season with 25 kills and 10 digs.
Baylor’s next match is against TCU at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Ferrell Center.
