No. 1 VB Earns First Trip to NCAA National Semifinals

Saturday, December 14

Waco, Texas

3:00 p.m. CT

Baylor

29-1

Washington (Final)

27-7

Washington

Baylor

No. 1 VB Earns First Trip to NCAA National Semifinals

12/14/2019 7:32:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score PDF Box Score Baylor Presser Quotes

Bears top eighth-seeded Washington at the Ferrell Center for perfect 17-0 home record

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            If this is still a dream, don't wake them up.
            Baylor volleyball's dream season continued on Saturday with the top-seeded Bears (29-1) punching a ticket to their first NCAA national semifinal with a 3-1 win over eighth-seeded Washington (27-7) before a Ferrell Center crowd of 3,008.
            Junior outside hitter Yossiana Pressley took her game to another level with 24 kills and a .512 hitting percentage, earning tournament Most Outstanding Player honors, as the Bears finished off a perfect 17-0 home slate by beating the Huskies, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19, 25-18.
            "Always a team effort, we've had a good run so far," Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre said, "but Yossi was just in my humble opinion the National Player of the Year. And if we don't get that performance out of her tonight, it's a different story. Yossi brought it to the highest level. . . . I feel champions are at their best when their best is expected. And when I trusted Yossi, she really pulled through."'
            Baylor, which had never made it past the Sweet 16 until Friday's 3-1 win over 16^th-seeded Purdue, will face fourth-seeded Wisconsin (26-6) in the national semifinals next Thursday, Dec. 19, in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Bears beat Wisconsin, 3-1, on the Badgers' home court back on Sept. 6 at the HotelRed Invitational in Madison.
            After winning the program's first Big 12 championship, Pressley said the team's goal then became winning a "natty championship."
            "The first goal of that is to get to Pittsburgh," she said. "So, now that we're going to Pittsburgh – oh, that's so exciting to say – but now that we're going to Pittsburgh, we just have to make sure we are treating every team the way we have this whole season. Just respecting all of their hitters, making sure we refuel and basically focusing on our side. I don't feel like anything is necessarily going to change. I believe we come with the same intensity every time."
            Pressley certainly did her part, recording 24 kills on 41 swings and helping the Bears hit a season-high .479. Shelly Stafford (11) and Gia Milana also recorded double-digit kills, sophomore Marieke van der Mark added nine kills and freshman Kara McGhee had six kills and assisted on five of Baylor's 7.0 blocks.
            "I thought Pressley hit them out of trouble a lot of times," said Washington coach Keegan Cook, whose team lost in the Elite Eight for the third time in five years. "In situations where we're used to getting stuff blocks, or least getting opportunities to create in transition, she found the smallest of windows and she hit them hard. She caught edges of the block, and at the end of the game you saw her use her full toolbox."
            As the Huskies tried to battle back from a 22-15 deficit in the fourth set, Pressley had kills on two of the last three points and closed it by drilling one to the floor off a perfect set from Hannah Lockin, who had 48 assists, eight digs and a perfect 7-for-7 on kill attempts.
            "We kind of had a lull in the second set, but we knew what we had to do," said Lockin, who was named to the Waco Regional all-tournament team along with Pressley, Milana, van der Mark, Washington's Kara Bajema and Samantha Dreschel and Kentucky's Leah Edmond. "We knew 100 percent what we needed to give. That means physically, in our actual skills, and in our mentality and enthusiasm and all that. When we started to give that again, it started to go better for us."
            Pressley was 7-for-7 at the start of the first set as Baylor hit a phenomenal .538 as a team with 16 kills and only two errors on 26 swings. The Bears finished it off, 25-20, on a kill by freshman Kara McGee.
            Washington bounced back to take the second set, 25-21, getting six kills from Samantha Drechsel and four from Bajema. That duo led the way for the Huskies with 20 and 15 kills, respectively.
            Just like Friday's match against Purdue, Baylor was at its best in the last two sets, hitting a combined .500 with 34 kills and only five errors on 60 total swings. Pressley had six kills in the fourth set alone, with Stafford recording five of her 11 kills in that last set.
            "Because of everyone else doing it (in other matches), I thought Yossi looked pretty fresh today," McGuyre said. "That's things I could hope for, but I can't manipulate or articulate or plan out myself. We have a good head coach, and it's not me. It's been God for us this year."
            Fourth-seeded Wisconsin made its third national semifinal with its third sweep of fifth-seeded Nebraska this year, winning 25-18, 25-22, 25-19, in Madison. Dana Rettke had seven kills and eight blocks for the Badgers.
            Third-seeded Stanford (28-4) will face seventh-seeded Minnesota (27-5) in Thursday's other national semifinal after sweeping Penn State and Louisville, respectively.

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 1 Baylor volleyball (29-1) is headed to the NCAA National Semifinals after the Bears took out No. 8 seed Washington in Saturday's regional final at the Ferrell Center, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19, 25-18.

BU closed out a perfect home campaign with a 17-0 record which included five wins over ranked opponents.

Junior Yossiana Pressley was named the Waco Regional Most Outstanding Player after putting down 24 kills on a .512 hitting efficiency. Senior Shelly Stafford logged 11 kills on a .667 clip while Hannah Lockin led with 48 assists and seven kills.

BU opened up a 10-5 lead after Pressley recorded her sixth kill on six attempts to start the first set. Washington took a 13-12 lead off two consecutive service aces, but the Bears would take a 19-16 lead when Lockin put down an ace to force the UW timeout. BU took five of the last seven points to take the opener, 25-20.

The Bears led 5-2 following a Kara McGhee kill, but the Huskies would later take a 15-12 lead after two consecutive Baylor errors. BU pulled within one at 21-20 with a block, but UW ran off four of the last five points to even up the match, 25-21.

The Huskies took a 7-5 lead in the third frame before BU took the 10-9 advantage after another Lockin kill. BU extended the lead to 21-16 with a Pressley block, and Lockin dumped another one over on set point, 25-19.

Baylor called timeout early in the fourth set after UW went up 8-5. The Bears retook the lead at 12-11 and closed out the match on an 8-3 run to clinch a spot in Pittsburgh, 25-18.

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

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor advances to the NCAA National Semifinals for the first time in school history.
• BU has now won 87 sets and only dropped 13 during the 2019 season.
• Baylor finished the season with a perfect 17-0 home record.
• BU has a school-record 29 wins this season.
• Yossiana Pressley led all players with 24 kills on a .512 efficiency.
• Shelly Stafford totaled 11 kills on a .667 percentage.
• Braya Hunt led the Bears with 10 digs for her first double-digit postseason match.
• Baylor hit a season-high .479 against the Huskies.
• Baylor is now 52-12 as a ranked team under McGuyre.
• Baylor improved to 1-0 all-time against Washington and 3-4 against Pac-12 teams in the NCAA Tournament.
• Yossiana Pressley was named the Regional Most Outstanding Player while Marieke van der Mark, Gia Milana and Hannah Lockin earned spots on the Regional All-Tournament Team.

STAT OF THE MATCH
.479 – the season-high hitting percentage by Baylor to secure a spot in the NCAA National Semifinals.

TOP QUOTE #1
Head coach Ryan McGuyre
On the win…
"What a fun match. Washington's such a great team. Very explosive. They took it to us with their serving. They're a well-coached team with a lot of weapons. It was a battle that brought the best out of us tonight. Thankful for God and all that He's helped us overcome all these years and for allowing us to be healthy at this point in the season. That is a blessing for sure. It's always a team effort. We've had a good run so far, and Yossi (Pressley) in my humble opinion is the national player of the year. If we didn't get that performance that we got out of her tonight, it would have been a different story. A lot of other highlights with what our girls were able to do but Yossi brought it to the highest level. I'm proud of her for getting there because we went three matches where she didn't feel like she was at her best. Champions are at their best when their best is expected and we trusted Yossiana and she pulled through."

TOP QUOTE #2
Junior Yossiana Pressley
On her game…
"I came with the same mentality, expecting to win. We were looking at Pittsburgh. We're not just looking at a match and trying not to lose. We have an end goal and we're trying to get there. I knew that was expected and that I had to show up this match. I showed up in other matches in different ways, just not hitting. Today, though, they needed me to hit. So, I hit."

WHAT'S NEXT
Top-seeded BU will face No. 4 seed and fifth-ranked Wisconsin in the NCAA National Semifinals on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The match will air on ESPN with the start time to be determined.