Ryan McGuyre Earns Win No. 500, No. 14 Bears Roll TCU 3-1
WACO, Texas — No. 14 Baylor Volleyball (11-2) topped TCU (5-7) three sets to one to earn coach Ryan McGuyre his 500th win as collegiate women’s head coach.
The Bears' impressed streak of consecutive sets won ended at 27 today as they dropped the third set to the Frogs. The match went as follows: 25-13, 29-27, 15-25, and 25-19.
The first set was tightly contested until Lauren Briseño broke things open with back-to-back aces. The Bears would not surrender her serve until the lead had grown to 23-11 and the sophomore libero had scored a third ace.
Briseño went on to collect three more aces for a total of six on the night.
“Lauren really helped pull it away in the fourth and final set,” coach McGuyre said while noting how sharp and accurate Briseño was on the night.
The second set started decently for the green and gold, winning a four-point cushion early on and staving off TCU’s pushes for momentum. However, a 5-0 run late in the set saw the Bears down 22-19 and at risk of finding themselves in a very close contest.
Allie Screech stepped up with a kill, TCU then committed an error and Briseño tallied another ace to tie things up.
Down 27-26 after what appeared a missed call on a lifted ball in favor of TCU, Kara McGhee put the Bears over the finish line for the set with a pair of kills either side of a TCU attack error. 29-27 and 2-0 Baylor.
The Frogs finally took control of a set to start the third, jumping out to a 7-1 lead that ballooned to 19-8 at one point. The Bears looked frazzled for a moment before many of them started trying to do a little too much to get back into it.
They re-composed themselves and made things tough on the visitors, but the deficit was too much. 25-15 TCU.
Set four was similar to set one, tight early but by midway through the Bears stepped up. After building a 13-8 lead with a 4-0 run, the green and gold expanded it to as much as 18-11 thanks to a balanced attack.
With one last Briseño ace and a service error from TCU, the Bears to the set 25-19 and the match 3-1
It was a career day for freshman Allie Sczech who registered 12 kills and six blocks, both career highs. She also was efficient tonight hitting .435.
Coach McGuyre said they probably didn’t get Sczech enough sets, but she “just got on a roll for us tonight”.
When asked about getting into a flow, Sczech said “It hasn’t been that way. Me and Averi have tried to figure our connection out. Trying to get extra reps in to reach that goal, and tonight was a portrayal of that.”
Elsewhere for the Bears, middle Mallory Talbert grabbed 10 kills and four blocks on .526 hitting.
The Bears’ head coach of course got in on the stats gathering tonight. McGuyre has more than 700 wins combining his records on the women’s and men’s sides and does not look set on stopping anytime soon.
Up Next for the Bears is a trip to Ames, Iowa next Wednesday to take on the Cyclones. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.