No. 15 Baylor Volleyball Finishes Baylor Invitational 3-0
WACO, Texas – The No. 15-ranked Baylor volleyball program swept Arizona State to kick off the last day of the Baylor Invitational, only to sweep Evansville and record a school-record attack percentage against the Aces.
The Bears (6-2) got the 3-0 sweep over the Sun Devils (5-4) in the morning match, 25-16, 25-23, 25-17, before taking on the Purple Aces. In the match with UE, BU came away with the 3-0 win with a record-breaking .677 attack percentage. Baylor defeated the Aces at 25-12, 25-10, 25-10.
Against ASU, Baylor was led by Lauren Harrison in kills (13), attempts (30) and blocks (4), while Lauren Harrison registered 20 digs to lead the squad. Averi Carlson had 38 kills and Cassie Davis delivered two aces.
In the match with the Aces, the Bears were led by Harrison with 11 kills but close behind were Elise McGhee (8), Allie Sczech (8) and Alicia Andrew (6). The most attacks came from Harrison, along with the best hitting percentage at .733. Davis served up three aces, Briseño had seven digs, and Sczech registered two blocks.
Baylor didn’t allow Evansville to collect more than 12 points in each of its three sets, holding the Aces to less than .100 in attack percentage.
Lauren Harrison hit her 1,000th career kill against Arizona State.
BAYLOR 3, ARIZONA STATE 0
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
The Bears started off hot with a rocket of a kill from Lauren Harrison. At 4-5, Cassie Davis got the kill to tie it back up. Kara McGhee tied it up again at 8-8 with a kill and then followed it up with another. Avery Carlson got a kill of her own at 12-11 to regain the lead, which BU would keep through the rest of the set. A media timeout came after a kill from Mallory Talbert and then a big block from Harrison. Out of the pause, up 15-11, the Bears saw three Talbert kills in a row, sandwiched by two from ASU, for the Sun Devils to call time at 18-14. Simpson got a kill, and each team had a service error before a block from Allie Sczech had Arizona State calling for another pause. Harrison made it 22-15, then Sczech pushed it forward with back-to-back kills. It was Lauren Harrison who finished the set off with a block at 25-16.
Set 2
BU got the first point, but then ASU got the next three. McGhee delivered a kill to push the Bears back in the right direction. Swapping points until 10-10, Arizona State called timeout after Simpson, McGhee and Sczech each got kills and BU was up 12-10. Out of the timeout, Sczech got a block, followed by a Harrison bomb. Talbert kept it up, getting a kill at 15-11 and Sophia Keene had an ace to boot. ASU called time again when Talbert got a kill, then an ace came from Davis. Now at 18-12, the Bears looked like it was smooth sailing, until the Sun Devils started to catch up at 23-20. BU didn’t let them get much further, only allowing three more ASU points before Harrison made the final blow to end the set, 25-23.
Set 3
Harrison started the third set and McGhee followed her lead, with an attack error from ASU making it a 3-0 run to begin. It was the beginning of the end, because Baylor went up 7-1, with Arizona State calling timeout. Out of it, Talbert got a kill, but the rest came from the players in red, where BU watched four-straight points from Arizona State and called timeout. McGhee and Sczech along with a block from McGhee made it 13-7 to prompt another ASU timeout, but they couldn’t stop the ball from rolling BU’s way. The Bears went smooth sailing through the rest of the set, finishing it off at 25-17 with two-straight kills from Simpson.
BAYLOR 3, EVANSVILLE 0
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
BU and Evansville kept in step but started with a kill from McGhee and the Bears pulled far ahead with UE calling time at 8-3. Out of the timeout, Andrew had a kill at 10-4, followed up by two Cassie Davis aces. Elise McGhee made it 14-5, then Evansville had an ace and an error followed by two Harrison kills and one from Andrew. Carlson had a block at 21-11, then Andrew had a kill at 22-11. The Bears finished it out with another Davis ace and a kill from Elise McGhee at 25-12.
Set 2
The Bears throttled the Aces over three sets, though they started off fairly slow against UE in the second. Slowly but surely, BU got more fluid and Evansville called timeout at 9-3 after two aces from Keene and a kill from Andrew. The Bears kept the ball in motion with more kills from Andrew and Harrison to pusjh the Bears to 11-5, then Carlson served an ace at 13-6. Sczech got two kills, then Briseño got in on the fun with one of her own. Running with it, Harrison got the point at 21-8, followed by 22-9, then Elise McGhee finished the set at 25-10.
Set 3
In the second set alone, Harrison had five kills on seven attempts. A short second set, it was all BU. Kara McGhee started the set with a kill, then Sczech got two in a row and all of a sudden it was 6-1 in the Bears favor. Here Andrew, Kara McGhee, Elise McGhee and Carlson got kills. At 15-6, the media timeout came into effect. Elise McGhee, Sczech and then Davis got kills to have Evansville call timeout at 19-7. If it wasn’t already all Bears, it was at this point, with three points in a row for the Bears at 22-8. Davis got another kill, then ended the set at 25-10 with another off Faith Lynch’s set.
NOTABLE
- Baylor’s attack percentage against Evansville was a school record single-match high
- Multiple Bears hit above .500 against the Aces
- Sczech had 22 kills at a .410 attack percentage
- Kara McGhee finished the weekend with 12 blocks, averaging 1.33 per set
- Lauren Harrison hit her 1,000th career kill against Arizona State
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
- Averi Carlson, Baylor – MVP
- Kara McGhee, Baylor – Best Defender
- Mallory Talbert, Baylor – Best Attacker
- Lauren Harrison, Baylor – All-Tournament Team
- Jaden Ravnsborg, Arizona State – All-Tournament Team
- Karina Leber, Colorado State – All-Tournament Team
- Giulia Cardona, Evansville – All-Tournament Team