No. 21 Baylor Volleyball Continues Hot Streak with Sunday Sweep of No. 24 UCF

WACO, Texas – The 21st-ranked Baylor volleyball squad stretched their winning streak to five matches as they swept No. 24 UCF on Sunday afternoon in the Ferrell Center.

BU (12-7, 6-3 Big 12) defeated the Knights (16-4, 7-2) in straight sets, 25-18, 25-17, 25-17. The Bears finished the match on a 8-1 run.

Baylor handed UCF their first two Big 12 conference losses of league play. The Bears are now 17-1 for the second match in back-to-back matches against the same opponent, dating back to the 2020 season.

Baylor held the conference leader in hitting percentage to just .139 on the afternoon, with 20 total errors in comparison to BU’s nine. The Knights also lead the league in aces but the Bears were able to halt them at just one while serving up four of their own.

The block was hot for Baylor, totaling 13.0 on the day, Alicia Andrew leading the team with seven assisted. Riley Simpson continued to make her mark, leading the team in kills with 14, her fifth double-digit kill game in six matchups. Averi Carlson and Lauren Briseño each finished the match with eight digs while Carlson led the team with two aces and 33 assists.

THE RUNDOWN

Set 1

Baylor kept yesterday’s momentum, starting on a 4-1 run featuring kills from three different Bears: Andrew, Elise McGhee, and Allie Szcech. A pair of errors gifted two points to the Knights, and the Bears’ Manuela Bibinbe responded with a kill to move the score to 5-3. The two teams then traded kills to a score of 7-5 when an attack error cut Baylor’s lead to one, but BU responded by forcing two errors and notching an ace to push the lead to four, 10-6. A kill from UCF’s Claudia Dillon interrupted what would become a 7-1 run for the Bears, a series of errors and kills leading to a 14-7 lead for Baylor. The Bears and Knights alternated kills with a UCF service error in the mix to move the score to 17-10. A block from Bibinbe and Simpson pushed the lead to eight and forced UCF to use their second and final timeout of the set. The Knight’s Emily Wilson recorded back-to-back kills reentering play to shave two points of Baylor’s lead, but two errors and a kill from Simpson gave the Bears their biggest lead of the day at 21-12. UCF fought back to an 18-24 score, but their comeback bid ended at the hands of McGhee’s team-leading fourth kill of the match, 25-18.  

Set 2

Baylor stayed hot to start the second, racing out to a 3-1 lead. A kill and service error moved the score to 4-2, but two attack errors by the Bears led to the first non-zero tie of the day at 4-4. The tie didn’t last long, though, as Baylor rattled off a 7-2 run featuring five kills from four Bears: McGhee, Bibinbe, Andrew, and a pair from Simpson. UCF called a timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but BU kept pressing; six points later and the Bears had stretched the lead to seven, 15-8, on the back of a pair of kills and an ace from Briseño. A 6-3 stretch followed for the Knights in which they cut the deficit to four, but a triad of points from a Simpson kill, UCF attack error, and Carlson ace moved the lead back to seven, 21-14, and pushed the Knights to call their second and final timeout of the set. Two more kills from Simpson and McGhee’s tenth of the match made it set point, which UCF survived twice on the backs of a service error and Emily Wilson’s tenth kill of the match. McGhee’s eleventh kill secured the set and a 2-0 lead for the Bears, 25-17.

Set 3

After an attack error by the Bears gave UCF their first lead of the day, 1-0, the Bears quickly capitalized on a kill from Andrew and a pair of attack errors to put themselves back on top, 3-1. A service error and kill from Szcech moved the score to 4-2, but a kill from the Knights and an attack error from BU tied the match once more at 4-4. The teams then traded kills one-to-one before a pair from UCF’s Lauren Clark gave the Knights the advantage, 7-6 – when Simpson responded with a pair of her own to take the lead, 8-7. The kills marked the beginning of a 5-1 run for the Bears that also saw an ace from Alexis Dacosta and a kill from Andrew. Clark responded with her tenth kill to shrink Baylor’s lead to two, 11-9, when a service error and kill shifted the score to 12-10. A block and twin kills from McGhee and Bibinbe, interrupted by a successful UCF challenge, stretched the Bears’ lead to 15-11 headed into a media timeout. UCF recorded a 5-2 run coming out of the pause in play slash the deficit to one, 17-16, prompting Baylor to call their first timeout of the match to halt a 3-0 stretch from the Knights. Reentering play, the Bears quickly found themselves up by three once more, 19-16, from Riley Simpson’s twelfth kill of the day and an attack error. UCF quickly called a timeout, and after Simpson’s thirteenth and another error the Knights called their second and final. The timeouts failed to interrupt Baylor’s momentum as they found back-to-back kills and an error to round out a 7-0 scoring run and found themselves at match point, 24-16. Lauren Clark’s twelfth and final kill of the night staved off the Bears for one point, but Allie Sczech found her sixth kill to complete the sweep and claim the final set for Baylor, 25-17.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Riley Simpson led the team with double-digit kills (14), her fifth double-digit kill match in six games
• Elise McGhee recorded her eleventh double-digit kill game of the season with 13
• Averi Carlson led both teams in assists (33) and led with two aces and 33 assists
• Alicia Andrew led both teams in blocks (7)
• Bears swept season series with UCF and handed them their first two Big 12 losses
• Held the Big 12 leader in attack percentage and aces to .139 and just one, respectively

QUOTABLE – Head Coach Ryan McGuyre

“We all liked the blocking. We were a little disappointed from night one, just three blocks in four sets. That was a big point of emphasis and it’s been a small reoccurring theme in a few of the back-to-backs for us. We responded, we did that at Cincinnati but I thought we did a really good job super early on. It changes the outcome of the set and the match and what teams are doing. It limits how hard they’re swinging and then we can get some more roll shots or tips because we’re trying to score other ways. It kind of contributes to our offense. But 13 blocks was huge and that’s only three sets compared to the three we got the other night. That was very collective.”

UP NEXT

The Bears return to action with a pair of matches in Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Texas, against seventh-ranked Texas volleyball on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 26-27.