BAYLOR BEARS (9-1) Location: Waco, Texas   Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Ryan McGuyre (Biola, 1998) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)	BAYLOR (9-1) vs. WEST VIRGINIA (5-3) Oct. 29, 2020 • 6 p.m. CT Oct. 30, 2020 • 5 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center  Live Stats: baylorstats.com WATCH: ESPNU                Big 12 Now on ESPN+ Baylor Social Media:
	WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (5-3) Location: Morgantown, W.Va. Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Reed Sunahara (UCLA, 1989)    Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            With a showdown looming against top-ranked Texas that will likely decide the Big 12 championship, No. 2 Baylor volleyball (9-1) will first try to take care of business against No. 15 West Virginia (5-3) in a two-match set that begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ferrell Center. 
            Head coach Ryan McGuyre, whose team has won nine in a row since a season-opening 3-2 loss to Kansas, says he can't see the Bears looking past the Mountaineers "because we feel like we haven't played our best volleyball yet."
            "We haven't had a clean match, start to finish," he said. With six rotations, the goal is to win all 12 phases of the match – side-out and point-scoring in each rotation . . . "and right now, we've only been hitting our standards four to five times," McGuyre said. 
            "We want to side out at 70 percent each rotation and points scored at 48 to 50 percent. That's something we've always looked at, and we're just not there. . . . We're being greedy. We're winning on defense, but our offense was off at Iowa State."
            The defense carried the day in a pair of 3-0 sweeps last weekend at Iowa State, with sophomore middle blocker Kara McGhee earning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors after a career-high 11 blocks in Saturday's match. On Friday, junior setter Callie Williams had 13 of the team's 46 digs in helping hold the Cyclones to a .164 hitting percentage. 
            "I thought our floor defense was tenacious," McGuyre said. "Our identity is starting to come, and it's a goofy tenaciousness that comes from our Ninjas and our floor defenders."
            McGhee, who is tied for the team lead with Marieke van der Mark with 30 blocks, said that "incorporating everything we've been doing in training into the game, being more confident and just playing one way, all-in, has been really helpful."
            "When I block next to Marieke, and Marieke gets the block, that counts for me, too," McGhee said. "We all needed to be one for me to be able to be in a position where I could get that award. I definitely did not do it on my own. The way we look at it is if one person gets honored, the whole team is honored."
            Baylor has swept the last three Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week awards, with junior libero Shanel Bramschreiber and senior middle blocker Laché Harper claiming the honor the two previous weeks. 
            "We just really made the decision that this is our net, our court, and we're going to run it," said redshirt freshman DS Campbell "Soup" Bowden. "Shanel just really hustles and takes ownership of the court and makes everyone around her better. And then, Kara in the middle is just an absolute beast. I'm comfortable playing defense because I know Kara is at the net. It's a lot of fun knowing that she's going to stop some major bombs coming at us."
            West Virginia has some size in the middle with 6-2 middle blockers Audrey Adams and Briana Lynch, who rank third and fifth, respectively, in the Big 12 in blocks per set. The Mountaineers, who finished at the bottom of the Big 12 standings in each of the last two seasons, are riding a four-match winning streak and played five-consecutive five-setters before a 3-1 win over TCU in their last outing. 
            "They've always been really good, actually, but maybe just underachieved a little bit," McGuyre said. "They've got some firepower on the outside, some length in the middle. I think they've been able to stay healthy, for the most part. They're sitting in third (in the Big 12), but they have the top half of the conference left with us twice, Texas twice and Iowa State and Oklahoma."
            Thursday's 6 p.m. match will be televised by ESPNU, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former Baylor All-American Katie Smith calling the action. Friday's 5 p.m. match will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+. 
            "We do lose a day of practice," Bowden said of the Thursday-Friday schedule, "but this week has been a great week of practice. I think it just helps us to train harder when we know that we have fewer days and just take advantage of the practices."
            


STORYLINES

WHAT'S POPPIN'

• Baylor carries a nine-match win streak into its weekend slate with West Virginia.
• This is BU's fourth-longest win streak under sixth-year head coach Ryan McGuyre.
• Seven of the Bears' nine wins have been sweeps, including each of the last three.
• The Bears have held steady at No. 2 in the AVCA's fall coaches poll for five straight weeks.

AGAINST THE MOUNTAINEERS

• Baylor has won each of the last 10 meetings against WVU, dating back to 2014.
• BU has claimed each of the last five contests against the Mountaineers in Waco.
• Baylor leads the all-time series 16-3 and 7-2 in Waco.
• Under McGuyre, the Bears are 10-0 against West Virginia.

IN THE RANKINGS

• With West Virginia checking in at No. 15 in the latest AVCA poll, this will be Baylor's first meeting with a ranked opponent in 2020.
• The Bears are 15-23 all-time against ranked opponents under McGuyre, including an 8-2 mark in 2019.

BLOCK PARTY

• Sophomore MB Kara McGhee was named the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Week after her 14-block performance in two matches at Iowa State.
• McGhee collected a career-high 11 stuffs in the series finale, one shy of BU's all-time record for blocks in a three-set match.
• The Bears totaled 13 blocks in Saturday's match, a season-best for the team, and McGhee assisted on nearly 85 percent of them.
• The San Antonio native is the first Bear to tally at least 10 blocks in a match since Shelly (Fanning) Stafford did so on Nov. 29, 2018 at Hawaii.
• This is McGhee's fifth-career weekly award, third defensive honor, and first of the 2020 season.
• This is the first time the Bears have claimed the same award in three-straight weeks since Sept. 23-Oct. 7, 2019 (offensive).

HIT THE FLOOR

• Baylor has seen its defense improve over the last few weeks, receiving strong production from redshirt junior S Callie Williams and junior L/DS Shanel Bramschreiber.
• Bramschreiber leads the Bears with 3.56 digs per set (9th in the Big 12) and has matched her previous career-high for digs in a single match six times this season.
• Williams has recorded double-digit digs in five of her last six matches, including each of the last four.
• Campbell Bowden, Yossiana Pressley and Emily Van Slate have all contributed in the passing game as well, with Bowden starting in seven of her eight matches played, Pressley recording three double-digit dig performances, and Van Slate tallying a career-high 11 digs in her last match at ISU.
• Jena Kelly and Gabby Brown, both redshirt freshmen defensive specialists, have taken ownership of their roles. With limited playing time, both are still making strides in the Bears' passing game and developing in the practice gym.