Baylor
Hawaii
No. 5 VB Sweeps No. 13 Hawai’i for 9-0 Start
9/22/2019 6:17:00 PM | Volleyball
Baylor wins Baylor Classic and has three Bears on the All-Tournament Team
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 5 Baylor volleyball (9-0) swept its way past No. 13 and previously unbeaten Hawai'i (10-1) to earn the Baylor Classic tournament title Sunday afternoon at the Ferrell Center, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22.
BU is now one of the last two undefeated college volleyball teams and tied a program-best fifth win over a ranked opponent this season.
BU hit at a season-high .387 clip for its fifth .300-or-better offensive outing of the season, anchored by three players in double-digit kills. Junior Yossiana Pressley led the charge with 19 kills, while redshirt senior Shelly Stafford and freshman Kara McGhee posted season highs with 18 kills on a .600 percentage and 11 kills on a .500 clip, respectively.
The Bears posted at least nine blocks for the fifth-straight match, and senior Tara Wulf tied a season-high 16 digs against the Rainbow Wahine.
Both teams traded points to open the match. After a 7-7 tie, the Bears surged on a 6-2 run and used three consecutive kills to force a Hawai'i timeout. BU led by as many as eight, and a Pressley kill closed out the first frame, 25-19.
The Rainbow Wahine came out and took a 13-9 lead in set two and put down three straight kills to force the BU timeout. The Bears trailed by seven at 17-10 but then used an 11-3 run to take the lead off a Stafford kill at 21-20. UH came back to tie it at 23-23, but a Wahine service error and Pressley kill gave Baylor the set at 25-23.
With the third set tied at 11-11, the Rainbow Wahine used three kills to take a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. The Bears came back to tie it up at 17-17, but UH's kill by Brooke Van Sickle made it a 22-22 frame. Baylor closed out the match on a 3-0 run and used a Gia Milana kill to seal the sweep, 25-22.
To keep up with things all season long, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor swept its seventh opponent in nine matches and its third-straight opponent at home.
• BU has now won 27 sets and only dropped two during non-conference action.
• BU is now one of the last two remaining undefeated teams along with No. 24 California.
• BU opens the season at 9-0 for the first time under McGuyre and is off to its best start since 2009.
• BU hit a season-high .387 for its fifth .300-or-better performance this season.
• BU had three players with double-digit kills in the same match for the first time in 2019.
• Yossiana Pressley led all players with 19 kills on a .378 efficiency.
• Shelly Stafford had a season-high 18 kills on a .600 clip. She also posted six blocks and four digs against the Rainbow Wahine.
• Hannah Lockin posted a match-high 46 assists for her best three-set assist performance of the season.
• Kara McGhee had a season-high 11 kills on a .500 efficiency.
• Tara Wulf tied a season-best 16 digs against Hawai'i.
• Baylor is now 32-11 as a ranked team under McGuyre.
• Baylor improved to 29-3 in non-conference home matches under McGuyre.
• Baylor matched a program-best five wins over ranked foes in a single season, improving to 5-0.
• Baylor had 20 kills in sets one and three, hitting .471 or better to sweep the match.
• Baylor has posted nine blocks or more in its last four matches.
• Baylor won the Baylor Classic with a 2-0 record, followed by UH with a 1-1 mark and Missouri at 0-2.
• Yossiana Pressley (MVP, Highest Scorer), Shelly Stafford (Best Blocker) and Hannah Lockin (Best Setter) led the All-Tournament Team while Hawai'i's Brooke Van Sickle (Best Defender) and Mizzou's Kylie Deberg (Best Attacker) rounded out the awardees.
STAT OF THE MATCH
.387 – the season-high attack percentage by the Bears.
TOP QUOTE #1
Head coach Ryan McGuyre
On the win…
"Both teams did very well offensively. It was kind of the story of the middles a little bit. We had two middles with Shelly (Stafford), they couldn't really stop her, and Kara (McGhee) coming up big. They couldn't stop her. For them, their No. 3 (Amber Igiede), we were struggling to stop her. I'm disappointed in our defense but excited about our offense. To get 20 kills in a set is huge. Normally 15 or 16 is going to win it for you, because you'll get some blocks and some other stuff. But we were able to side out at a good level. Hawaii's a great, great team. They're dealing with an injury, so I expect them to keep moving up the charts. Low errors, it was just good volleyball. It was fun for the fans, a lot of crazy digs, fun digs, but I like what we're doing offensively to have three players in double digits (kills) in three sets. That's really good."
TOP QUOTE #2
Head coach Ryan McGuyre
On non-conference play…
"We scheduled non-conference to get ready for postseason. We really want to give ourselves a great seed. We want to be in a position. We want to go deep in the tournament, and it's one match at a time, 30 seconds at a time. But the schedule was to give us a taste of postseason. I feel as worn out as we are, we have to understand that we're going to feel that way in December. Can we play great in that? We've played a lot of good teams."
WHAT'S NEXT
BU (8-0) will close out non-conference action with an in-state matchup against Texas State (8-5) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT at the Ferrell Center.
Tuesday's match will be live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, and fans can purchase tickets online at www.BaylorBears.com.
