No. 1 VB Drops Road Match to No. 4 Texas

Wednesday, October 23

Austin, Texas

7:00 p.m. CT

Baylor

16-1, 6-1

Texas

13-2, 7-0

Baylor

Texas

No. 1 VB Drops Road Match to No. 4 Texas

10/23/2019 10:09:00 PM | Volleyball

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Baylor falls to Longhorns for the team’s first loss of the season

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            AUSTIN – When teams go to a Final Four for the first time, the atmosphere, the moment and everything about it can be too much to handle.
            The top-ranked Baylor volleyball team got a taste of that atmosphere Wednesday night and struggled in a way the Bears haven't all year. No. 4 Texas (13-2, 7-0) hit an efficient .342 with only eight errors and had 12 blocks and nine aces in a 3-0 sweep, 25-19, 25-10, 25-19, before a packed house of 4,215 at Gregory Gymnasium.
            "(Texas shows) what it's like to play at a super-high level in a match that really means something," said Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre, whose team fell to 16-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big 12. "We're a program that's trying to go deeper in the tournament. And that, to me, was like a Final Four atmosphere, a lot of hype. My hope is when we're able to host the first and second round, and Lord willing go deeper than that . . . we can learn from this match."
            Baylor had won a program-record 16 consecutive matches and 31 straight sets. And while those streaks came to a screeching halt, the Bears have now lost 35 in a row to the Longhorns and are 0-44 all-time in Austin.
            "It was difficult on all fronts," McGuyre said. "They definitely won the serve and pass, not even close. That makes everything easier when you've got a tough serve, kept us out of system, and then you're just defending high balls. They have such a big block, and they were able to convert. I didn't feel like we were able to convert at all."
            Sophomore middle blocker Brionne Butler, who missed the first month of the season with a leg injury, dominated the match with 12 kills, a .500 hitting percentage and eight blocks.
            "They're a whole different team with her out there," McGuyre said.
            Yossiana Pressley had nine of her match-high 18 kills in a back-and-forth first set that saw the Bears jump out to a 5-1 lead. A pivotal point came at 18-20, when McGuyre lost a coaching challenge on a Logan Eggleston kill that landed close to the far sideline.
            The Longhorns closed it out with a 5-1 run that included kills by Butler and Micaya White, an ace by Sydney Peterson and a Pressley attack error.
            "They put up a good block, so we were trying to hit over them and it just didn't work out that way," said Pressley, who hit .167 with 11 errors. "We just had a lot of errors, and we normally don't do that."
            Not only did Baylor have 24 attack errors, hitting just .083, the Bears had nine receiving and six service errors. Texas also had three times as many blocks, 12.0 to 4.0, with the 6-4 Butler and 6-2 Skylar Fields leading the way.
            "It was difficult on all fronts," McGuyre said. "The match was good, it's what we needed. I feel like in some of our recent matches, we showed a lot of vulnerability in areas, but we were able to get the wins. . . . Glad we didn't stub our toe against somebody else, but we didn't put that energy into executing tonight."
            The low point came in the second set, when the Bears had more errors (8) than kills (6) and hit -.080. After falling behind 4-2, Texas reeled off six unanswered points and a 13-2 run that included three aces.
            McGuyre said the crowd and atmosphere "maybe got to us on defense where we were pressed a little bit more. We had a lot of balls hit us, but not go where we needed them to go. Our digs for kills were really, really weak."
            Baylor was more competitive in the third set, but Texas hit a match-high .367 with 13 kills and only two errors and closed it out when Butler and Fields combined to block a Pressley attack.
            "It's a sting, but it's a good sting," Pressley said. "I feel like it needed to happen, because we haven't been playing our way for the past few matches. I thought this needed to happen. We're going to get back in the gym and work on the things we need to work on and just get stronger as a team. Kudos to Texas, they had a great match."
            Baylor returns home to host West Virginia (10-9, 1-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Mountaineers were swept by Texas on Saturday and play at TCU Thursday night.
            The Bears will get another shot at the Longhorns in a Nov. 20 match in Waco.
            "We've got to be better. Texas has been the standard in the Big 12 for a long time, and we've got to be able to rise to that standard," McGuyre said of the Longhorns, who have won 10 of the last 12 conference titles. "Hopefully, (the next match against Texas) is for a Big 12 championship. We want it to mean something."

THE RUNDOWN
AUSTIN – No. 1 Baylor volleyball (16-1, 6-1 Big 12) dropped a 3-0 match to No. 4 Texas (13-2, 7-0 Big 12) for its first loss of the season Wednesday night at a sold-out Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, 25-19, 25-10, 25-19.

BU's loss snapped a program-best 16-0 start to the season and a program-best 31-set win streak. Baylor moves to 0-44 all-time against Texas in Austin.

Junior Yossiana Pressley led all players with 18 kills while junior Hannah Lockin posted 23 assists and four kills.

Defensively, senior Tara Wulf led all players with 11 digs while senior Shelly Stafford and sophomore Marieke van der Mark contributed three blocks each at the net.

BU rolled to a quick 5-1 lead after a Pressley kill, but Texas would come back and tie it up with a block at 8-8. A van der Mark and Stafford block tied up the set at 16-16, but the Longhorns would close the set on a 9-3 run to take the first frame, 25-19.

Baylor got off to the slow start in set two and were forced to use a timeout at 7-4 and 12-5. BU hit -.080 and committed eight attack errors to fall behind two sets, 25-10.

The Bears fell behind early again in set three, but a 3-0 run with two kills and a block forced the Texas timeout at 13-10. BU pulled within four with a Stafford kill, but the Longhorns ended the match on a block, 25-19.

To keep up with things all season long, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.

NOTABLES
• Baylor dropped its first match of the season and snapped a program-best 31-set win streak and 16-0 start.
• BU has now won 48 sets and only dropped five during the 2019 season.
• BU was the final undefeated team in DI college volleyball before Wednesday's loss.
• Yossiana Pressley led all players with 18 kills on 41 swings.
• Tara Wulf led all defenders with 11 digs.
• Shelly Stafford and Marieke van der Mark led the Bears with three blocks each.
• Baylor played in front of Texas' fifth sold-out crowd of the season.
• Baylor is now 39-12 as a ranked team under McGuyre.
• Baylor dropped to 2-84 all-time against Texas and 0-44 in Austin.
• Ryan McGuyre is one win away from 100 career victories at Baylor.

STAT OF THE MATCH
18 – the match-high kill count for junior Yossiana Pressley.

TOP QUOTE
Head coach Ryan McGuyre
On the match…
"It was difficult on all fronts. It was a match that was good and was needed. In some of our other recent matches, we've shown a lot of vulnerability in certain areas, but we were able to get the wins. Texas was great. They served extremely tough. They definitely won the serve and pass game. That makes everything easier. They had tough serves and kept us out of system. We have such a big block, but they were able to convert. Digs for kills were really weak today."

WHAT'S NEXT
BU (16-1, 6-1 Big 12) will return home to face West Virginia on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT at the Ferrell Center.