No. 23 Baylor’s road to success will not be easy as it goes up against two Big 12 powerhouses beginning with a tough road test against Texas at 7 p.m. Friday before coming back home for a showdown against No. 15 Texas Tech at 1 p.m. Sunday at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field.

“When you get to conference every team is really good,” senior defender Selby Polley said. “In Texas they have a lot of height, so it will be a good challenge in the air for us. Sunday with Tech it’s just always a battle. They’re probably one of our rivals in conference and it’s always really competitive when we play against them.”

After starting conference play with three straight losses, Baylor volleyball went on the road to win its first Big 12 conference game against West Virginia in straight sets. With the win, Baylor moves to 9-11 on the season and 1-3 in Big 12 play.

Sophomore setter Amy Rosenbaum led the Bears with five kills, three blocks, 12 digs and 35 assists on a .625 hitting percentage for the second double-double of her career.

No. 12 Oklahoma (5-0) vs. Texas (3-2)

Since junior quarterback Blake Bell took over as starter, he has thrown for 797 yards, 70.4 percent accuracy and six touchdowns over three games. The Sooners are 3-0 in that span, including an impressive victory over No. 22 Notre Dame in South Bend. OU is sixth in the country in scoring defense and ninth in total yardage defense.

With many people focusing on how to stop Baylor, or wondering how Baylor will adjust on the road, the coaching duel that will take place in Manhattan, Kan., seems to be overlooked. Both Baylor head coach Art Briles and Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder have rejuvenated programs that were at one point bottom feeders of the Big 12.

Snyder’s first tenure at K-State was from 1989 to 2005, in which he led the Wildcats to three Big 12 titles, six 11-win seasons, and helped turn Kansas State into a contending, winning program on an annual basis.

After playing three of the top teams in the Big 12 to open conference play, Baylor volleyball will look to turn their season around in a road match against West Virginia in Morgantown tonight.

The Bears are currently 8-11 overall on the season after losing three straight against No. 25 Iowa State, No. 3 Texas and Kansas to open the season.

While high-powered offenses earn national attention, defense wins championships. Last year’s porous Baylor defense has been replaced with a stout defense that finds itself ranking among the elite squads in the NCAA.

Through the first four games of the Baylor season, the defense has allowed 321.3 yards per game– good enough to land Baylor inside the top 20. Baylor’s defense last year consistently ranked outside of the top 100 teams in FBS schools, which forced the offense to carry the load.

After a resilient showing against No. 4 Texas last Wednesday, Baylor volleyball struggled and eventually fell to Big 12 rival Kansas 3-1 on Saturday in front of a crowd of 568 fans. Baylor fell 16-25, 25-23, 22-25, 17-25. With the loss, Baylor falls to 8-11 on the season and 0-3 in Big 12 play.

Sophomore outside hitter Thea Munch-Soegaard led Baylor with 17 kills, 12 digs and two blocks in her second match back from a foot injury. Sophomore outside hitter Laura Jones added 11 kills. Sophomore setter Amy Rosenbaum had an all-around match with four kills, four digs, an ace and 45 assists.

No. 19 Baylor fell to No. 18 BYU 2-1 on Friday to finish nonconference play. Baylor (8-2-2) played tough and fought for the entire match, but BYU (6-3-1) scored a goal in each half to come away with a win in the teams’ first ever meeting.

“It was a great game,” Baylor co-head coach Marci Jobson said. “We have to get everyone playing well at the same time. Everyone is playing hard, but not everyone is playing well at the same moment. We need a little bit more consistency.”