No. 6 VB Comes Up Short at No. 2 Texas

Three Bears with double-digit kills not enough as Bears fall in Austin

For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone@Baylor.edu  

THE RUNDOWN
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 6 Baylor volleyball came up short at No. 2 Texas Wednesday night, dropping a 3-1 match at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin 22-25, 17-25, 25-17, 20-25.
 

Three Bears tallied double-digit kills in Lauren Harrison (16), Yossiana Pressley (13) and Marieke van der Mark (12), but it wasn’t enough to steal a victory. UT’s Logan Eggleston led all players with 23 putaways, hitting .417 on 48 swings.

Baylor (15-4, 13-3 Big 12) was searching for its first road win over Texas in program history, but the Longhorns (17-0, 14-0) staved off a small BU comeback to secure the win.

The match opened with a tight first set that saw 12 tie scores and five lead changes. Pressley put down seven kills, but Eggleston matched her as UT jumped out to a 12-8 lead. The Bears hung around, tying the set at 14-14 with a Shanel Bramschreiber ace, though Texas responded with a four-point run to take back the lead. Baylor came out of a timeout to tie it right back at 18-18 and traded points until Eggleston recorded three kills to see out the set at 25-22.

In the second, both teams combined for just one error as BU hit .312 and UT hit .429. Texas escaped a back-and-forth start with a three-point run at 12-9 and stayed in front for the remainder of the frame. Another run that included three Eggleston aces swelled the lead to 23-16 and UT took a 2-0 match advantage.

Harrison sparked the Bears in the third, converting six of seven attacks for kills. BU jumped out to 3-0 and 10-7 leads, and led 15-10 at the media break which followed a van der Mark smash. A pair of Texas attack errors and a double block by Kara McGhee and Hannah Sedwick helped the Bears down the stretch in the set and allowed them to stay alive in the match.

After Harrison opened the fourth set with another kill, van der Mark and Preslie Anderson combined for three straight blocks for the Bears with momentum squarely on their side. However, UT slowly chipped away, pulling even at 12-12. After 15-15, Texas took five of the next seven points to charge ahead and then held off the Bears to seal the victory.

To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Baylor fell in four sets for the first time in 2020-21.
• The Bears collected more than 70 digs for the second match in a row with 72 against the Longhorns.
• Three Bears recorded double-digit kills in Lauren Harrison (16), Yossiana Pressley (13) and Marieke van der Mark (12).
• Pressley reached double figures for the 18th time this season, Harrison did so for the 11th time and van der Mark eclipsed the mark for the eighth time in 2020-21.
• For the second match in a row, Pressley recorded a double-double. It was her fifth of the season and 25th of her career.
• Callie Williams tallied her sixth double-double of the season with 22 assists and a career-high 15 digs.
• Hannah Sedwick collected 19 assists, her seventh double-digit outing of the year.
• Four Bears amassed 10 digs in Shanel Bramschreiber (19), Williams (15), Campbell Bowden (12) and Pressley (10).
• It was Bramschreiber’s 15th double-digit dig performance of the season and sixth outing with at least 19.
• Two Bears collected at least five blocks in Preslie Anderson (6) and Kara McGhee (5).

STAT OF THE MATCH
72 – Baylor recorded 72 digs, it’s second-highest output of the season. 

TOP QUOTES

Head coach Ryan McGuyre

On tonight’s match…
“A lot of it was our execution. It’s a game of rhythm. Texas is very good, [they have] probably one of the biggest blocks that we’re gonna see in the country. We were a little slow tonight, it was just a little bit off, a lot of players it wasn’t their worst night but definitely wasn’t their best.”
On individual performances…

“It was great to see Lauren [Harrison] starting to break through, I think her best is still ahead of her. Marieke [van der Mark] was making some plays down the stretch. Shanel [Bramschreiber] is a first team All-American libero in my mind. She does really, really well, led us in digs, got a lot of touches. Every ball she sets has great targets. I think she knows she could’ve had a few more, but we believe she can do it.”

WHAT'S NEXT
No. 6 Baylor (15-4, 13-3) hosts Oklahoma (3-11, 3-9 Big 12) for a 5 p.m. match at the Ferrell Center on Saturday, March 6.