No. 20 Baylor Volleyball Set to Face No. 5 Texas
WACO, Texas – The 20th-ranked Baylor volleyball squad is set to head down I-35 to face fifth-ranked Texas on Thursday and Friday at Gregory Gym.
This will be the last time BU (12-7, 6-3 Big 12) faces the Longhorns (14-3, 9-0) as a conference foe. The series is the most-played for the Bears at 93 overall matches. Baylor is looking to get its first win over UT in Austin in this series.
Baylor is coming off a season sweep of UCF to face the Horns, winning 3-1 in the first match and going 3-0 in the second. The Knights were ranked No. 24 the week of the series but have since fallen out of the AVCA Teraflex Poll. Elise McGhee and Riley Simpson led the team for the matches, both raking in double-digit kills in each match. In the first match, Averi Carlson had her 2000th career assist while Lauren Briseño had her 800th career dig. McGhee was named the Big 12’s Offensive Player of the Week after collecting 32 total kills.
The Longhorns last played on Oct. 18 against TCU in Fort Worth, winning in five sets. It was UT’s first five-set match of the season. The reigning national champions are led by Asjia O’Neal on defense and Madisen Skinner on offense. Skinner is the younger sister of Baylor alumna Avery Skinner. The two both previously played at Kentucky before transferring to their respective universities in Texas. BU were picked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in each of the previous five years of the Big 12 Preseason Poll. This season the Bears were picked to finish third in the league behind BYU.
Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre often says the “better team wins the second night” when it comes to playing back-to-back matches against the same opponent. Since the 2020 season, McGuyre and his Bears are 17-1 on the second day in back-to-back matches. The singular loss was to Texas in the 2020 season. In 2021, Baylor won the second night against the Longhorns.
The match will be broadcast on FS1 with Ron Thulin and Jill Dorsey-Hall on the call. Links to live stats and the broadcast can be found on linktr.ee/baylorvball.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.