THIS IS A CHAPTER I WILL NEVER FORGET

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

All year long, Ryan McGuyre had stressed the importance of Baylor volleyball playing well enough to host the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament.

On top of the Bears playing in front of their fans on a Ferrell Center court they know so well, it would also allow assistant coach Samantha Erger to stay at home for the birth of her baby, Demi, and not miss too many matches.

"It takes me back to my first national championship (at California Baptist) when my son was born and I had to miss it," McGuyre said. "I don't want Sam to have to go through that."

With an initial due date of Dec. 12, Erger certainly would have missed the regional rounds if Baylor had traveled. Instead, baby Demi came a week early (Dec. 5), and Erger missed only the opening-round win over Sacred Heart before being back on the sidelines for the Bears' sweep of USC and last weekend's wins over Purdue and Washington to secure a spot in the NCAA national semifinals.

"I feel like I'm in a dream," said Erger, who will be back on the sidelines when top-ranked Baylor (29-1) faces fourth-seeded Wisconsin (26-6) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. CST Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

"Honestly, it's incredible how every little thing worked out. We take every team seriously, but that first match, maybe that's when I can be gone. I'll miss one match and then come back. And then we've got to win and we've got to be able to host both rounds. Every little detail worked out. God is incredible! I can't believe it all worked out."

Two days after giving birth to Demi Rebekah James Erger, Sam was on the bench when the Bears defeated USC to make it back to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history and first in a decade.

"To me, it was essential (to have her back)," McGuyre said. "All of our coaches have been extremely essential, but Sam specifically, I think it's really reassuring for our setters that she's there, because that's her area of focus this year. . . . To have Sam there, her wisdom, her expertise, and somebody who's been training the whole time, to me that was huge. Maybe the girls would have been fine, but I was like, 'Hey, we need our No. 1 offensive coordinator on the bench.' She had the freedom to not come, but we know how competitive and passionate she is. It probably would have been pretty hard to hold her back, anyway."

As it was, she was under strict doctor's orders to stay on the bench and not get up the whole time. She was like a caged animal, desperate to break out, but knowing that her labor coach and Dr. Kari Herman were both there watching.

"I didn't ask my doctor until after I had the baby," she said, "because I knew she would have so much sympathy for me and wouldn't be able to say no. I told her, I'm just going to sit there. So, that's all I did. And I coached."

Coming from a volleyball family, Sam's father is a prominent high school coach in Michigan and she has three sisters who all played collegiately – Rachel currently plays at Central Connecticut; Kristen played at Rochester College; and Jordan played professionally in Denmark after a successful career at Virginia Tech and is now the head coach at Hill College in Hillsboro.

Sam played Division I volleyball at Bowling Green State University as a setter, leaving he school ranked fifth all-time in career assists, second in single-season assists and top 10 in career aces.

After two years as a GA at the University of Findlay, a Division II school in Ohio, she had a 29-9 record at Hill College and helped the program end a 12-year playoff drought with an appearance in the NJCAA Division I national tournament.

Originally coming to Baylor as volleyball's director of operations, Sam was promoted to an assistant coaching position when McGuyre was hired in December 2014. She transitioned this year to working with the setters.

"Working with setters was something I begged Ryan to let me do," she said. "I think he was leery at first, not because he didn't think I could do it, but Jason (Williams) is great with the offense as well. But, we shook up things with our staff and just all took on new roles."

An honorable mention All-American two years ago as a freshman, Lockin joined Yossiana Pressley and Shelly Stafford as AVCA first-team All-Americans this season, averaging a personal-best 11.48 assists and 2.75 digs per set and notching career highs with 89 kills, 74 blocks and a team-high 23 service aces.

"Having Hannah buy into what I was teaching her, not just even fundamentally, but my personality, trying to instill some of that competitive drive in her," Erger said. "It's been a little bit of a process, but seeing that growth. I've texted her so many times this year, just saying, 'Hey, I'm so thankful for your buy-in and your hard work.' Because gosh, without that, I don't know where we are, because she's our quarterback. That's been another really big joy of this season is seeing her have all those accomplishments."

Looking back on it now, Sam said it's funny that this dream started back on Sept. 6, when the Bears upset then-No. 4 Wisconsin, 3-1, in Madison.

"I knew that if we didn't win that match, things probably weren't going to work out," she said. "They were picked to win the Big Ten, so beating the Big Ten champion would definitely be a resume-builder that could help us host. Even when we won that match, I was like, 'OK, baby steps, we might be able to do this. We might be able to host.' It started so long ago, which is incredible."

And here we are, Baylor and Wisconsin playing again for a spot in Saturday's 7 p.m. CST championship game.

"Seeing the path that we've been on, and now bearing some of the fruit," Sam said, "because it was hard that first year. Even just me and Ryan learning how to work together that first year was rough, sometimes But, we stuck through it and built our relationship and just built this team and having this senior class that bought in, because they've been with us the whole time.

"I can't even describe it. Just bearing some of the fruit, finally, and then having the baby on top of it. I feel like we truly are on Cloud Nine. This is a chapter of life that I will never forget."

Sam Erger

THIS IS A CHAPTER I WILL NEVER FORGET

Players Mentioned

Yossiana Pressley

Shelly Stafford

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