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Baylor Volleyball Knocks off No. 2 Wisconsin

September 7, 2018
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WACO, Texas – Despite dropping the opening set, 15th-ranked Baylor volleyball (5-2) produced its highest ranked win in program history with a 3-1 victory over No. 2 Wisconsin Friday night at the Ferrell Center, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22.

Handing Wisconsin (4-1) its first loss of the season, the Bears’ highest ranked win before Friday came on two occasions: at No. 9 UCLA on Dec. 5, 2009 and against ninth-ranked Kansas State on Sept. 24, 2003.

Sophomore Yossiana Pressley led all players with a career-high 32 kills on a .313 hitting efficiency and became the first Bear since former All-American Katie Staiger to record over 30 kills in a match. Her 32-kill total is the second-best four-set match performance in program history.

Shelly Fanning and Aniah Philo contributed double-digit efforts with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

The Bears got off to the slow start and fell into a 5-1 hole after a Badger block. BU fell behind 20-13 and couldn’t slow down the Badger offense to drop the first frame, 25-18.

BU gained its first advantage of the match after a Pressley and Fanning block at 11-10 and would force two attack errors at 19-16 to keep the momentum. Pressley nailed her 15th kill of the match to give Baylor the second set, 25-21.

The Bears were down early in the third frame and trailed 15-11 at the media timeout. Then, freshman Bri Coleman came in and sparked a 7-0 run to help BU capture the 20-19 lead. With late kills from Philo and Pressley, BU went up 2-1 after the 25-23 set win.

Baylor had three consecutive kills to build a 11-7 lead and force an early Badger timeout. Despite a Wisconsin run to tie it up at 20-20, the Bears dispatched two aces and had a Wisconsin service error end the match for the 25-22 win.

HIGHLIGHTS
• BU earned its highest ranked win in program history, besting its victories over ninth-ranked UCLA (Dec. 5, 2009) and No. 9 Kansas State (Sept. 24, 2003).
• Sophomore Yossiana Pressley posted a career-high 32 kills on a .313 efficiency. Her previous career high was 24 kills on two occasions. 
• Yossiana Pressley’s 32 kills ranked second-best on the Baylor single match performance list in a four-set match.
• Three Bears collected double-digit kills for the third consecutive match.
• Juniors Braya Hunt and Tara Wulf led the Bears with two service aces each.
• Sophomore Hannah Lockin led all players with 55 assists and posted her second double-double of the season with 10 digs.
• The Bears led the Toreros with 10 team blocks.
• Baylor is now 1-0 all-time against Wisconsin after Friday’s first series meeting.
• Baylor is 14-5 as a ranked team under McGuyre.

STAT OF THE MATCH
No. 2 – the new highest ranked win in program history after Friday’s 3-1 victory.
TOP QUOTE #1
Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre
On beating No. 2 Wisconsin…
“I’m really excited for Baylor University, our community, the girls, just to experience that. We’re always about trying to make memories, and to beat a great team at home – Wisconsin’s good, we could end up seeing each other again down the road – but just the flow and consistency we were able to play over the course of the night was solid, was strong. There was this joyful peace at how we played composed. Even though we didn’t win the first set, I don’t know that we played significantly greater, but just sharper and cleaner.”

TOP QUOTE #2
Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre
On seizing the opportunity Friday night…

“For me, it’s always fun when you have people come off the bench and do great things for us. So, for Bri Coleman to help turn that match around for us, for our girls to serve great. We talk about champions are at their best when their best is expected. And I think that’s probably what we learned from California is we had opportunities and didn’t really go for it. I thought the girls did a good job taking advantage of those. Tara’s tough serves down the stretch, Braya for sure, Taylor’s been great for us.”

WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears (5-2) hosts the Baylor Classic with matchups against UTRGV and Rice Saturday at the Ferrell Center. BU hosts the Vaqueros at 11 a.m. and the Owls at 7 p.m. CT, respectively.

Both matches will be streamed live on Facebook (@BaylorVBall).

Discussion from...

Baylor Volleyball Knocks off No. 2 Wisconsin

2,794 Views | 2 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by bularry
bunation
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Just, WOW!

This may be our best team ever.
bularry
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I'm excited about the direction of the program
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