By Aidan O’Connor | Sports Writer
The weekend started with No. 21 Baylor volleyball hanging 10 and hitting the waves of Hawaii.
The Bears escaped the harsh Waco heat for an island paradise before opening the 2026 season.
Baylor (3-0) hung three wins at the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic to open the year undefeated, capping off the weekend with a 3-1 win over Georgia Southern (0-3).
The Bears swept San Diego in a match that saw three tightly contested sets to open their season. They took down the Toreros by a combined seven points with a final score of 26-23, 34-32, 25-23. Sophomore outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik connected on the deciding kill in the third set.
Baylor faced off against Hawaii, who was being led by the Bears’ former associate head coach Joshua Walker, on Saturday night. The second match went back-and-forth with the hosts. Baylor went the distance with Hawaii, winning 25-17, 14-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-9.
Finishing out the weekend against Georgia Southern on Sunday, the Bears got out to an early lead with four service aces, recording more than they did throughout the Hawaii match. Their dominance at the baseline propelled them to a 25-22 victory in the first set.
Baylor capitalized on its momentum as the Bears opened the second set with a 14-7 lead. The Eagles made a push in the middle of the set to close the gap to 15-13. Baylor remained firm, finishing the set on a 5-0 run and a service ace from senior middle blocker Victoria Davis to take the second set 25-16.
The Bears looked to end the night on a sweep, but the Eagles fought back. The set went down to a 24-21 Georgia Southern lead until they made two costly errors. Baylor had a chance to take advantage down by one, but sophomore middle blocker Alex Myers closed the set with a kill to give the Eagles a 25-23 third-set victory.
The Bears bounced back in the fourth set with a chance to close out the match. Both sides were neck-and-neck toward the end, but Baylor went on a 4-1 run that was bookended by a Rakhmanchik kill to finish the set 25-21 and secure the win 3-1.
Baylor closed out its opening tournament undefeated as both offense and defense shined, with Rakhmanchik extending her double-digit kills streak to 12 and Davis recording a career-high 10 blocks against Hawaii.
Baylor returns to Waco for its home opener against North Texas at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Ferrell Center.
