No. 9 Baylor Volleyball Defeats San Diego State, 3-1

MALIBU, Calif. – The No. 9-ranked Baylor volleyball team showed their prowess on Friday night in the 3-1 win over San Diego State at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse as part of the Asics Classic.

The Bears (2-2) defeated the Aztecs (2-2) in four sets, 25-18, 25-17, 27-29, 25-14.

BU was led by redshirt freshman Riley Simpson with 14 kills, freshman Averi Carlson with 42 assists and senior Kara McGhee with 11 blocks.

It was the first time a Baylor team had 20 total blocks in a match since 2007 against Colorado, when the Bears had 23 total blocks in five sets.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Set One

The Bears came out hot with kills from Elise McGhee sandwiched with a kill from Mallory Talbert to go up 3-1 early. Lauren Harrison got in on the action with a kill at 4-2 and 5-3. Riley Simpson entered the party with a kill at 6-4, then a block with Kara McGhee before she scored again at 8-4. Kara McGhee got a kill at 9-5 before Simpson delivered an ace. Firing on all cylinders, Talbert and Harrison got a block to make it 12-7 after a Harrison kill. Harrison and Simpson made it 15-10, then 16-11 with Talbert. Averi Carlson and Kara McGhee teamed up for a block against Mikela Labno of SDSU, prompting the Aztecs to call time at 17-11. Mistakes came from both sides, but Kara McGhee righted the team again at 20-14. Moving into the final stretch, BU called timeout at 20-17. Out of it, Harrison got a kill and SDSU had an attack error to have San Diego State call for another pause. An attack error followed by a block from Harrison and Talbert put the set at 24-18, and a service error from SDSU’s Heipua Tautua’a finished the set at 25-18.

Set Two

After taking the first set, the Bears came out ready to wrap up the second. Simpson started off the set with a kill, then Kara McGhee made it 2-1. Allie Sczech entered the scoring with a kill to make the BU lead 3-2, then hjad another kill at 8-9 and 9-10. She and Talbert joined for a block to tie the set at 10-10, with Harrison tying it back up at 11. Harrison and Talbert had back-to-back blocks together to push back into the lead at 13-11, then 14-12 with a Harrison kill. SDSU called time at 17-13 after Simpson and Kara McGhee each recorded a kill. Three-straight attack errors from the Aztecs, included a solo block by McGhee and a block assist from McGhee and Sczech had SDSU call time again with BU at 20-14. Baylor had already made its mark and there was no stopping them. BU only allowed three more points from San Diego State before the set ended at 25-17. Within that span, Simpson had a kill, and there were blocks from Harrison and McGhee, then Sczech and McGhee.

Set Three

Primed for a third set punchout, the Bears instead started off with a call being reversed in SDSU’s favor and then three-straight attack errors after kills from Harrison and Talbert. At 7-4 in the Aztec’s favor, Simpson got her first kill of the set, followed by McGhee. Kara and Carlson brought it one point closer to tying at 6-7 with a block. After trading points, the Bears broke away after an attack error from SDSU and an ace from Carlson, prompting an Aztec timeout at 20-17. Blocks came from Sczech and McGhee, then McGhee and Simpson. SDSU returned two blocks of their own before McGhee got a kill and a block came from Harrison and Talbert to bring match point. It slipped away with a kill from Tautua’a, then two straight BU errors. Harrison brought it to 25-24 with a kill. On the verge of taking the match again, Madison Corf tied it back up. A Talbert and Harrison block moved the needle back in BU’s direction, but Corf again thwarted their plans. Simpson got a kill, then Labno tied it once more, followed by another SDSU kill to make it 28-27 in their favor. Baylor called timeout, but an ace from San Diego State ended the set, 29-27.

Set Four

The Bears reset and went back to work, the first play of the fourth set being a block from Kara McGhee and Simpson. It was followed by two-straight errors from SDSU to complete a 3-0 run for Baylor. A block from Sczech and Talbert and another SDSU attack error had the Aztecs call for a stop at 7-3. Talbert made it 9-4, then San Diego State tried to push. Not having it, Simpson had a kill at 11-7 followed by a block with McGhee. A kill from McGhee, then three-straight attack errors from SDSU and an ace from Talbert made another Bear run, ending at 17-7. Baylor began to run away with it at 20-9 with Simpson recording a kill. Subs were called in, getting Alicia Andrew on the court. She recorded a kill at 23-11 after Harrison got one the play before. The Aztecs scored three straight, but an SDSU service error then attack error ended the set and match, 25-14.

NOTABLE

• Redshirt freshman Riley Simpson led the team in kills with 14 for the second match in a row.
• Averi Carlson had her second-straight match with 40 or more assists.
• Four different Bears recorded an ace (Carlson, McGhee, Simpson, Talbert).
• BU had 20 blocks for the first time since 2007 against Colorado when they had 23.
• Kara McGhee recorded 11 blocks, her season best and just one away from her career best. She was also one kill away from a double-double.
• Baylor had over a .400 percent attack percentage in sets one and four, with a .438 in set four.
• The Bears never trailed in sets one and four.
• Redshirt freshman Alicia Andrew recorded her first career kill.

QUOTABLE

Head Coach Ryan McGuyre

“Excited to see our blocking come alive. I thought that was going to be the difference in the match. Lot of good, healthy arms for San Diego State, so it was important that we slowed them down at the net. We’re still young, we’ve still got things to work on. We’re starting to find some things that are a steady part of our game that we can build on, and things that we know we’ve got wo work on when we get back in the gym. Good to see Riley (Simpson) hit at such a high clip, .407. Again, proud overall of the blocking. In four sets, we only gave up one ace, so our passers are doing a lot better.”

Redshirt Freshman Riley Simpson

“It was really awesome [to be the leading scorer again tonight], I don’t think I could’ve done it without my teammates, honestly. It was really fun; the energy was good and it was good to come back with a win after last night. I truly think the difference was the blocking. Last night our blocking wasn’t quite on, but I felt like we made a great adjustment tonight. I think we did a better job of making adjustments in general tonight. There were a lot of things we learned collectively as a team, one being that we play really well when our team has energy and when we’re all encouraging to one another. It’s more fun of a game when we’re more energetic.”

UP NEXT

The Bears will take on UC Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon in Firestone Fieldhouse at 12 p.m. CT. The Gauchos faced Pepperdine on Friday night after the SDSU-BU match. UCSB fell, 3-1, to the Waves in the match.