By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            In football, the theory is that if you have more than one quarterback, you don't have one. That's definitely not the case with volleyball setters. 
            Junior Callie Williams, a Midway High School product who transferred from Tennessee and sat out last season, flourished in helping the No. 2-ranked Baylor volleyball team get off to a 9-1 start this season. But, there was a noticeable rise in the excitement level when 2019 All-American Hannah Sedwick made her 2020 debut Thursday night at the Ferrell Center in the Bears' 3-1 win over 15^th-ranked West Virginia. 
            "Seeing her throw it down (on a dump kill), you're like, 'Oh, you kind of miss that. That was kind of easy,''' said Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre, whose team improved to 10-1 by rallying from an opening-set loss to beat the visiting Mountaineers, 22-25, 25-20, 25-12, 25-16.
            "Just makes us excited for the future. I was really impressed with Hannah this week. It was really the first time she's kind of had the green light to go do stuff. And it was good. She looked way more rusty in August than she did after not being able to do stuff since being hurt. I think just watching the game, she's looking really good."
            Inserted late in the first set, Sedwick put up modest numbers with nine assists, two kills on four attempts, one block assist and a dig. But, recovering from a lower leg injury, this was her first game action since last year's NCAA national semifinals in Pittsburgh.
            "This was amazing, I loved being back on the court," Sedwick said. "Like Coach Mac said, I think just watching has really helped me, just be even cleaner. I think just getting to put that into practice, into play, has been awesome. And then, to get to do it on court. I love Callie, it's amazing to go set with her. She's like a rock star, so encouraging. Just coming in and out with her and getting to see her face up close and just encourage each other, that was awesome."
            Baylor's block party, which started last weekend in a pair of 3-0 road sweeps at Iowa State, gained even more momentum Thursday night with a season-high 14.5 blocks. Laché Harper and Kara McGhee, the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, both assisted on seven blocks. 
            "West Virginia has some heavy arms and some arms out of the back row," McGuyre said of the Mountaineers (5-4), who had a four-match winning streak snapped. "If our block is not evident, they're blowing us up."
            The Bears, who won their 23^rd in a row at home, had 5.5 blocks in the first set and had a late 17-16 lead. But, West Virginia took the lead for good with a 3-0 run and closed it out, 25-22, on a Meghan Dombrowski kill. 
            After knotting the match at 1-1 by squeezing out a 25-20 win in the second set, Baylor hit its stride in the third set and held the Mountaineers to a -0.65 hitting percentage over the last two sets. 
            "I'm definitely discouraged with how we played the first two sets, really," McGuyre said. "I think consistency is a theme for us as we're trying to improve. Defense showed up tonight, the blocking has still been coming around. . . . Definitely moved the ball around a lot tonight, I would just love to see us hitting at a higher percentage. Those last two sets, really the last three, our defense limited what West Virginia was doing."
            Senior All-American Yossiana Pressley led the offense with 14 kills and added five blocks and six digs, while van der Mark and North Carolina transfer Lauren Harrison had 11 kills apiece. Williams narrowly missed a double-double with 32 kills and nine assists, adding four kills, a .667 hitting percentage and one block assist. 
            Baylor will finish the West Virginia series with a match at 5 p.m. Friday before heading south next week to take on top-ranked Texas in a battle that will decide the Big 12 championship. 
            "I feel like we come in with the same attitude: What's going to win us a national championship?" Sedwick said. "That doesn't really change, opponent to opponent.We just want to play our best game, and we want them to ball out, play their best, so that we can have great competition and we can get better."
 

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 2 Baylor volleyball (10-1) notched its first ranked win of the year with a four-set victory over No. 15 West Virginia (5-4) 22-25, 25-20, 25-12, 25-16 Thursday evening at the Ferrell Center.
 
The Bears recorded a season-high 14.5 blocks in the contest, led by Laché Harper and Kara McGhee who each tallied seven. Yossiana Pressley and Marieke van der Mark provided the offense, as Pressley put down 14 kills and van der Mark collected 11 on a .375 clip to lead all players. With the win, BU extended its winning streak to 10 matches.

Things were neck-and-neck to start, with seven ties and three lead changes in the first. Baylor produced 5.5 blocks in the set, including a triple block by Harper, Pressley and van der Mark at 12-10. Lauren Harrison kept the Bears in front at 17-16 with a kill, but the Mountaineers made use of four total Baylor service errors to edge in front and take the set by three points.

WVU hung around in the second, staying within three points until another Harrison kill put the Bears ahead 13-9. After a Pressley smash evened the score at 18-18, BU pulled away thanks in part to a string of Mountaineers errors. The Bears held WVU to a .098 hitting percentage in the set and continued to flex its muscles at the net with another trio of blocks.
 
Baylor got out to a 6-1 lead in the third behind three more Pressley kills and ultimately ran away with the set, hitting .308 as a team while holding WVU in the negative at -.120. Callie Williams spread the love as six Bears recorded a kill, including Hannah Sedwick who made her 2020 debut.

Again in the fourth, BU started fast with a 7-0 run to start. Shanel Bramschreiber produced a pair of aces in the stretch and Baylor never let go of the momentum, building off kills by Harrison at 11-5, Pressley at 17-8 and van der Mark at 22-12. A WVU service error capped things off and gave the Bears its first four-set victory of the season.

To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.

HIGHLIGHTS
• This is BU's first win over a ranked opponent this season.
• Baylor extended its winning streak to 10 matches, tied for the third-longest streak under sixth-year head coach Ryan McGuyre.
• With the victory, Baylor's home win streak increases to 23 matches, dating back to Nov. 16, 2018.
• BU held its opponent below a .170 attack percentage for the eighth time this season, as West Virginia hit just .055.
• It's the fourth time the Bears have held their opponent to under a .100 efficiency.
• The Bears tallied a season-high 14.5 blocks as a team.
• This is the fourth time Baylor has recorded at least 10 blocks as a team this season.
• Redshirt-sophomore Emily Van Slate produced a career-high 14 digs and tallied her first-career kill.
• Senior Yossiana Pressley led the Bears in kills for the ninth time this season.
• Senior Hannah Sedwick made her 2020 debut, recording two kills and nine assists.
• Junior Shanel Bramschreiber posted 19 digs for the fourth time in 2020.

STAT OF THE MATCH
14.5 – Total number of blocks by the Bears, a season-best.

TOP QUOTES
Head coach Ryan McGuyre
On tonight's match…
"The defense showed up tonight, the blocking has still been coming around. West Virginia takes a lot of big, heavy swings. I thought Shanel [Bramschreiber]'s defense was great, and 'Soup' [Campbell Bowden] from the service line. We had Marieke [van der Mark] up there hitting a high clip and we definitely moved the ball around a lot too."
 
On Hannah Sedwick making her season debut…
"I was really impressed with Hannah this week because it's really the first time she had a green light to go do stuff. It was good, seeing her throw it down we're like 'oh, we kind of missed that, it looked so easy.' I think just after watching the game, she's looking really good."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (10-1) and West Virginia (5-4) will tangle again at the Ferrell Center on Friday at 5 p.m. CT. The match will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.