Baylor volleyball certainly did not lack heart in a hard-fought 3-1 loss against the No. 4 ranked defending national champion Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night in front of an all-time record crowd of 3,044 fans. Despite the loss, Baylor handed Texas their first set loss in Big 12 play by winning the third set in thrilling fashion.

“The crowd was incredible,” junior middle hitter Nicole Bardaji said. “We loved having all the fans.”

Three players, three paths, one mission. That’s how junior running back Lache Seastrunk, senior tight end Jordan Najvar and senior cornerback Demetri Goodson look at it.

Seastrunk, Najvar and Goodson play in different positions, but their common denominator is that they are native Texans who decided to go to West Coast schools and ended up transferring to Baylor so they could be back in Texas.

Coming off a tough loss against Iowa State, Baylor volleyball will have to regroup for a nationally televised midweek tilt against the defending national champion No. 4 University of Texas. Baylor comes into this match with a record of 8-9, while UT comes in 8-2, including winning all six sets so far in the Big 12.

Baylor exploded into Big 12 play after winning six of the last eight non-conference matches to push back up to .500 for the season at 8-8. The momentum was halted in a tough straight set loss to No. 25 Iowa State in Ames last Saturday.

When you watch a Baylor football game, it’s impossible to ignore the incredible speed of the offense. The offense has posted huge numbers, averaging 69.7 points per game on the season. The engine behind the success is the offensive line.

Baylor has arguably one of the best offensive lines in all of football, boasting almost 1,600 pounds of total manpower. In fact, the only everyday starting offensive lineman under 315 pounds is senior center Stefan Huber, who weighs “only” 295 pounds. To compare, the University of Texas has one lineman over 315 pounds, and total their line weighs about 50 pounds less.

Baylor volleyball began Big 12 conference play with a straight-set rout at the hands of No. 25 Iowa State in Ames. The Bears lost 25-14, 25-19, 25-17 in front of a crowd of 2,555 to fall to 8-9 on the season and 0-1 in Big 12 play.

Sophomore outside hitter Laura Jones was the bright spot for Baylor on an otherwise tough day. She finished with 10 kills on a .348 hitting percentage. Other than Jones, senior outside hitter Zoe Adom finished with nine kills. No other player had over five. For the match, Baylor had a hitting percentage of .198.

Baylor football enjoyed a day off on Saturday, but their bye week was used to shift attention to its Big 12 Conference opener against West Virginia University.

In the first three games, Baylor’s defense has not been truly tested, but they face their first genuine test against West Virginia, senior safety Ahmad Dixon said.

“Buffalo had a lot of a passing game, but that was the only team that we had been tested by before,” said Dixon.

Class from 8 a.m. until noon. Lunch. Then practice and rehab. Practice for four hours. Go home, eat and study. Try to be in bed by midnight.

Acrobatics and tumbling senior, Ginger Plemmons balances all of the above exceedingly well. She manages to stay focused on the mat and carries a 3.86 GPA.

“Well, I don’t get that much sleep. I mean you just have to stay motivated to succeed at both,” Plemmons said. “So I just study in between practice or really late at night. Whenever I have time really.”

After Seattle rallied for an overtime win against the Houston Texans on Sunday, Pete Carroll joked that halftime was the best thing that happened to his team.
Well, half-joked.

The Seahawks shook off a terrible first half in which they trailed by 17 points to rally for the 23-20 victory to improve to 4-0 for the first time in franchise history.