By Bennett Parker | Sports Writer
The marquee matchup agonies continued for No. 24 Baylor volleyball.
After four gritty sets with rival No. 16 TCU, the Bears found themselves in their third straight five-set showdown, searching of their first win against a ranked opponent at home.
No. 24 Baylor (13-7, 5-5 Big 12) swept TCU earlier this season and tried to delivered its second blow to TCU (16-5, 7-2 Big 12) but came up short in another heartbreaking loss, falling in five sets 25-27, 25-21, 21-25, 25-15 and 8-15.
The Bears are no strangers to full-length games. Points are premium and rallies are long in shortened fifth sets, but Baylor had six kills on 26 attempts with five errors as it fell to 3-2 in five-set matches.
Sophomore setter Isabela Haggard attributed the lackluster offense to some hesitation in the outside hitters.
“We started getting timid,” Haggard said. “We tipped a lot. We talked about before every match, ‘We need big swings, big hitters.’ We got pretty timid after getting blocked a few times.”
The Bears’ first-set troubles resurfaced as the serve receive was poor and the attack was denied three times by the Frogs. Baylor was blocked half a dozen times in the first set and fell 27-25 to the late TCU comeback.
“We know something had to change,” sophomore outside hitter Bailey Warren said. “I know who we are now. That’s going to be absolutely on us. But we just need to stay consistent.”
Baylor changed the narrative in the second set, getting denied just one time while notching 3.5 blocks, holding the Frogs to a .231 hitting percentage.
The Horned Frogs attempted another comeback with a late 6-0 run before it was snuffed out by sophomore outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik’s eighth and ninth kills of the set, sealing the 25-21 win for Baylor.
The third set came down to a pair of controversial calls on a possible under-the-net violation and a TCU lift, spurring boos from an already passionate crowd. The back-to-back points had head coach Ryan McGuyre livid, earning his first red card of the season and giving the Frogs the deciding point. TCU held the Bears to a .081 hitting percentage and took the third set 25-21.
“You just got to move on to the next play,” McGuyre said. “Whether you thought it was a touch or under or something like that, it’s still got to be about the next play.”
Baylor was able to answer in the fourth set with an 8-3 run and extended the lead the whole way to the 25-15 set win. The Bears forced the fifth set by neutralizing the Frogs’ attack, hitting just .045 compared to Baylor’s game-high .333.
Nine different Bears logged multi-kill evenings, while sophomore outside hitter Ksenia Rakhmanchik led the charge with her fourth straight 23-kill performance. She also garnered another double-double along with sophomore setter Isabella Haggard, who directed the attack with 47 assists and 10 digs.
The Bears came up just short against their rival but have shown a new sense of fight over the past six matches.
“We are going to go in this locker room, and I want to go to battle every single day with these girls,” Haggard said. “We have the opportunity; we are playing five sets, two points with some of the best teams in the country.”
They look to take that competitiveness to the final eight matches of the season.
“We’re young, but we can’t keep saying we’re young. That’s the frustrating part. We’ve got to mature now. Eight games left, so just making the best of that, we have the skill.”
Baylor hits the road for another chance against No. 15 Kansas at 6 p.m. Thursday in Lawrence, Kansas, in the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
