By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            In Wednesday's loss at #4 Texas, Baylor's middle blockers combined for just five kills and had no luck slowing down Longhorn All-American Brionne Butler. 
            Against West Virginia, with outside hitter Yossiana Pressley struggling at the start, everything the Bears did went through Kara McGhee and Shelly Stafford. Baylor's two middles combined for 23 kills and 10 blocks and hit .500 with only two errors in a 3-1 win over West Virginia, 25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, Saturday afternoon at the Ferrell Center. 
            "I feel like Texas had hands all over our middles in that match, and we didn't get anything out of Shelly or Kara," said coach Ryan McGuyre, who became the fastest Baylor coach to 100 wins (100-42) in program history. "Our middles have to be attacking a lot faster. We do that, and Kara's able to do that. Now, can we maintain that and get our pins going faster and just keep the pressure on the opponents?"
            After seeing their program-record streak of 31 consecutive sets end in Wednesday's 3-0 loss at Texas, the Bears (17-1, 7-1) closed out the first half of league play with a convincing win over the visiting Mountaineers (10-11, 1-7). 
            Pressley had a strong fourth set with six kills and only one attacking error to lead Baylor with 14 kills. But, it was Stafford (12 kills, three aces) and McGhee (11 kills, nine blocks) that really paved the way. 
            "We've been working on fast middles and zero-tempo middles just the past two days in practices, and (McGhee) really put that into play this game" said senior libero Tara Wulf, who had 17 digs, four assists and a service ace. "I'm so proud of her. She was killing it every single set."
            McGhee got off to a big start with four kills in each of the first two sets and helping the Bears take a 2-0 lead before tapering off in the last two sets. 
            Pressley, who came in ranked second nationally with 5.76 kills per set, hit -.500 in the first set with one kill and five errors on eight total swings.            
            "Yossi, I thought, played good for us at Texas, and everyone else really, really struggled," McGuyre said of Pressley, who had 18 kills in the three-set loss at Texas. "Today was a little bit of that inverse, the ball just wasn't coming off her hand super-clean. I don't feel like it was anything they did."
            Baylor breezed through the first two sets and was up 21-16 in the third, on the verge of its 11^th sweep in the last 12 matches. But, West Virginia reeled off eight-straight points on four kills by Katelyn Evans, a service ace by Audrey Adams and a couple attack errors by the Bears before winning the set on a Bri Coleman service error. 
            "We did not receive serve well in those rotations, so we couldn't really run an offense, and then we kind of slapped the ball back over," McGuyre said. "It wasn't the Baylor way. They were able to take some big swings that just sputtered through our block."
            The Mountaineers carried that momentum over to the fourth set and went toe-to-toe until Baylor closed it out with an 8-0 run that included three kills by Pressley, two by Stafford and a couple WVU errors on the last two points. 
            Wulf had five of her digs in that last set, diving on the floor time and time again to keep balls off the floor. 
            "She's huge for us," McGuyre said. "She's really weathering the load of receiving a lot of balls. She's maybe not the target – sometimes Yossi is or Braya (Hunt) – and she's kind of sniping some of those to help us and take the load off there. . . . Her alertness down the stretch was big and showed great maturity and insight."
            On picking up his 100^th victory at Baylor, McGuyre said, "I hope I get another 100."
            "It's been such a beautiful time at Baylor," he said. "There was some turmoil and adversity right after I arrived here with the university, but the people have been great from when I first got here. . . . This feels like home. Since leaving California, I've bounced around – Maryland, Florida – but it feels like home."
            Baylor begins the second half of conference on Wednesday with a road match at Oklahoma (14-5, 6-2) before returning home to host Iowa State (12-7, 3-4) at 4 p.m. next Sunday, Nov. 3.


THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 1 Baylor volleyball (17-1, 7-1 Big 12) captured its 100^th win of the Ryan McGuyre era with a 3-1 victory over West Virginia (10-11, 1-7 Big 12) Saturday afternoon at the Ferrell Center, 25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18.

McGuyre is the fastest Baylor volleyball coach to 100 wins, accomplishing the milestone in 142 matches (100-42) in the midst of his fifth season at the helm. He holds a .704 win percentage in Waco and is the fourth coach in program history to surpass 100 Baylor victories.

Junior Yossiana Pressley led the Bears with 14 kills while Baylor middles Shelly Stafford (12) and Kara McGhee (11) combined for 23 kills on 42 swings with only two errors.

Defensively, senior Tara Wulf led all players with 17 digs while McGhee was one block shy of a double-double with nine stuffs at the net.

BU and WVU battled early in set one with the Bears holding a slim 15-13 lead at the media timeout, but then the Bears would use a Marieke van der Mark kill to take the opener, 25-19.

The Bears used a Stafford ace to go up 5-1, and the offense was clicking and hit .571 en route to the 2-0 advantage, 25-17.

BU held a 21-16 lead after a WVU attack error, but the Mountaineers ran off the next eight points to take a 24-21 lead. A Pressley kill fought off one set point, but a service error gave the third set to the Mountaineers, 25-22.

BU and WVU tangled in set four, but the Mountaineers held the 15-14 lead at the media timeout after a block in the middle. WVU held an 18-17 lead, but the Bears used an 8-0 run with Shanel Bramschreiber at the service line to close out the match in four, 25-18.

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

HIGHLIGHTS
• Head coach Ryan McGuyre captured his 100^th Baylor win on Saturday.
• BU has now won 51 sets and only dropped six during the 2019 season.
• McGuyre is the fastest Baylor volleyball coach to 100 victories, posting a .704 win percentage in Waco.
• Yossiana Pressley led the Bears with 14 kills.
• Tara Wulf led all defenders with 17 digs.
• Shelly Stafford and Kara McGhee contributed 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
• McGhee led the defense with nine blocks, just one shy of posting her first career double-double.
• Hannah Lockin passed Kate Harris (2010-12) for the sixth-most career assists in Baylor history, posting 46 against WVU. She now has 2,743 assists in a Baylor uniform.
• Baylor is now 65-0 when leading 2-0 in a match under McGuyre.
• Baylor is now 40-12 as a ranked team under McGuyre.
• Baylor improved to 15-3 all-time against West Virginia and 7-2 against the Mountaineers at home.
• Baylor improved to 9-0 at home in 2019.
• Baylor tied its best start in Big 12 play under McGuyre, finishing the first half of conference action with a 7-1 record.

STAT OF THE MATCH
100 – the number of program wins under fifth-year head coach Ryan McGuyre after Saturday.

TOP QUOTE #1
Head coach Ryan McGuyre
On his 100^th Baylor win…
"I hope I get another 100. It starts with one match. It's been such a beautiful time at Baylor. I feel like the family's getting even closer, the understanding and the trust and the fun things we get to do as a department are great. It feels like home. Since leaving California, I bounced around to Maryland and Florida, but it feels like home."

TOP QUOTE #2
Head coach Ryan McGuyre
On the match…
"I thought the second set was a clean set. Our errors just have to come way down. A lot of that's on Yossi (Pressley), and a lot of that's on Gia (Milana) who had some a-typical ones. Once you got passed that, her pass to hit was really good. A lot of that's on (Hannah) Lockin. We give her a lot of credit when we're hitting at a high percentage, and if we're not it's normally a combination of the passing and the setting. The setting has to get back to being crisp. It's just like football with the quarterback. When you score a lot of points, normally, they're hitting receivers all the time. Tonight, for part of the set, we had a couple of easy first downs and we barely crossed the yard markers on that should've been easier for us."

WHAT'S NEXT
BU will open the second half of conference play in a road match against Oklahoma on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT in Norman, Okla. The match will be broadcast on Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus.