Thursday, October 8
Waco, Texas
6:00 p.m.
Baylor
4-1,4-1Big 12
3
vs
2
Oklahoma
0-3,0-3Big 12
1
2
3
4
5
F
Oklahoma
16
13
25
25
13
2
Baylor
25
25
17
22
15
3
No. 2 VB Holds Off Oklahoma In Five Sets
10/8/2020 10:39:00 PM | Volleyball
Bears improve to 4-1, Pressley records 1,500th-career kill
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Ryan McGuyre says his second-ranked Baylor volleyball team is still trying to find its identity.
The Bears (4-1) displayed multiple personalities in Thursday's 3-2 win over Oklahoma, 25-16, 25-13, 17-25, 22-25, 15-13, extending their home-court winning streak to 21 in a row at the Ferrell Center.
They were scary dominant in winning the first two sets and looked like they were on the verge of running the Sooners (0-3) out of the gym. Then, Baylor was too passive and out of synch as OU took a nothing-to-lose attitude and bombed away in winning the next two sets and forcing a fifth.
"They were probably at a point where there was zero pressure," McGuyre said. "We always say that when you swing hard, good things happen on our end. We've got to make sure that when they swing hard, we're not bailing them out."
In the end, though, it was a resilient, gritty Baylor team that pulled it out in the fifth, 15-13. After OU went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-11 lead on a kill by Sana'a Dotson, the daughter of Baylor football Hall of Famer Santana Dotson, All-American Yossiana Pressley took over late and blasted the winner by going cross court just in front of All-Big 12 libero Keyton Kinley.
"I have a sense of urgency, and I'm dialed-in, more focused," said Pressley, who had a match-high 22 kills to move up to fifth on Baylor's all-time list with 1,521, "because it's like, 'OK, I need to make sure I do well right now and do my job as a hitter or a passer or a blocker, whatever the case may be. The team needed me to hit in that moment, so I just made sure I gave it everything I had and left nothing on the table."
McGuyre said Pressley is "not back to her form of last year yet," following an offseason surgery. "But, winners win. Yossi is a winner, and you find a way."
"I love how well she's carrying the team emotionally right now," McGuyre said, "where last year she could do it for us physically. Definitely at the end, she did both. Athletes are able to find that second gear when it's needed."
To their credit, the Bears were able to knock off the Sooners for the ninth time in a row without sophomore outside hitter Lauren Harrison, a transfer from North Carolina who is leading the team with 3.43 kills per set. Expected to be a focal point of Baylor's game plan, Harrison suffered a concussion this week in practice.
"Obviously, not having Lauren is a bummer, because Lo is such a good matchup for Oklahoma for us with their undersized setter over there," McGuyre said. "We had to shift gears. It probably makes it a dogfight tomorrow instead of a 3-sweep, 3-sweep deal."
Through the first two sets, that's exactly where it looked like the Bears were headed. They hit at a .419 clip with only five errors on a combined 62 swings while holding OU to a dismal .092 attack percentage.
And then, it was like the light switch flipped.
"OU definitely made some adjustments, and we were just slow to adjust to their adjustments," said junior setter Callie Williams, who finished with 49 assists, six kills and seven digs. "I think we got into a little bit of a passing rut and struggled to side-out. . . . Luckily, we were able to turn it around a little bit in the fifth set and come out with the win. But, we're looking forward to making some changes and playing better (Friday)."
After the hot start, McGuyre said part of the switch was Baylor's lack of focus in the third and fourth sets.
"We were horrifically slow to pick up their tips," he said. "I'm not sure they were passing any better, but funny things happen if our blocks aren't well-formed and balls are bouncing around. When we did get free balls, when we did get touches, we didn't make them pay for it. That was the frustrating part is we were tipping balls back at them, we didn't convert in transition at all."
Sophomore middle blocker Kara McGhee chipped in with 14 kills and three blocks, but 10 of her kills came in the first two sets. Marieke van der Mark added nine kills and two aces, while grad transfer Laché Harper from UCF had five kills and four blocks and hit .556 with zero errors.
Freshman Guewe Diouf led the Sooners with a career-high 20 kills, while Sarah Sanders and Dotson had 14 and 13, respectively.
"It's just the difference between focused and unfocused," McGuyre said. "(That was a) discouraging way to finish. The only positive is it looks like a 'W' five weeks from now."
Baylor and OU will return to the court to finish off the series with a match at 6 p.m. Friday that will be televised by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 2 Baylor volleyball (4-1) held off a late surge by Oklahoma (0-3) to keep its 21-match winning streak at the Ferrell Center alive, defeating the Sooners 25-16, 25-13, 17-25, 22-25, 15-13.
Senior Yossiana Pressley led the Bears with 22 kills, including the 1,500th of her career as she moved into fifth place on Baylor's all-time leaderboard. Redshirt-junior Callie Williams added 49 assists and junior Shanel Bramschreiber totaled 19 digs in the effort.
BU started out hot, running out to a 10-2 lead behind kills from sophomore Kara McGhee and Pressley. The Bears took advantage of some OU miscues, as the Sooners hit just .038 in the first set as opposed to Baylor's .333. McGhee put down the last four BU kills in the set, part of her 6-for-8 start.
In set two, Pressley put the Bears ahead 7-2 following another pair of McGhee kills. Redshirt-junior Marieke van der Mark, sophomore KJ Johnson, and graduate transfer Laché Harper all got in on the action, picking up kills in the set as the Bears cruised to a 25-13 victory.
OU would rebound, leading the third from wire-to-wire and holding the Bears to just an .088 attack percentage. Baylor began the fourth set with three-consecutive double blocks before the Sooners rallied to knot things up at 4-4. The two sides traded points throughout the remainder of the set and Guewe Diouf's kill eventually clinched it for OU, sending the match to five.
In the fifth, Williams spread the ball around as five Bears recorded kills. Junior Bri Coleman gave BU a spark off the bench, tallying a kill to pull within a point. Pressley lifted the Bears to a 9-8 lead, evened the score at 12-12, and sealed the win at 15-13 with kills.
To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.
HIGHLIGHTS
• With the victory, Baylor's home win streak increases to 21 matches, dating back to Nov. 16, 2018.
• The Bears extended their win streak to nine in matches against Oklahoma.
• Of the last nine meetings with OU, seven have gone past three sets.
• Under sixth-year head coach Ryan McGuyre, the Bears are now 110-5 when leading their opponent in hitting efficiency.
• BU is 104-17 under McGuyre when leading its opponent in kills.
• Yossiana Pressley recorded her 1,500th-career kill in the victory.
• Pressley now sits in fifth place on Baylor's all-time kills leaderboard with 1,521.
• Pressley recorded her first double-double of 2020 with 22 kills and 10 digs.
• Kara McGhee set a career high with 14 kills.
• Shanel Bramschreiber led the Bears with 19 digs, her third-consecutive double-digit outing.
• Bri Coleman recorded her first service ace of 2020.
• Freshman Cassie Davis made her collegiate debut, picking up two kills on six swings.
STAT OF THE MATCH
8 – Eight different Bears recorded a kill in the victory.
TOP QUOTES
Redshirt-junior setter Callie Williams
On playing with high-caliber hitters…
"It's so much fun. I've never played with such amazing hitters and teammates. It's just an absolute blessing for me. They make me look good. Obviously Yossi (Pressley), National Player of the Year, but Kara (McGhee) last week went 12-14, no errors and hit for 8-something, which is absolutely unheard of. She played really great tonight, but we wish we could've used her more in the set, but it was hard to find her. Same with Marieke (van der Mark). It's a lot of fun playing with them and I am defiantly blessed to have teammates like that."
Senior outside hitter Yossiana Pressley
On the final rally…
"I had a sense of urgency. I dialed in more and more focused. I need to make sure that I do well and do my job as a hitter, or as a passer, or as a blocker, or whatever it may be. If Marieke [van der Mark] is on fire, I'm going to make sure my passes are dialed in. If Laché Harper is hot, I'm going to make sure my passes are dialed in. It just depends on what the team needs at the moment. The team needed me to hit in that moment, so I just made sure that I gave it everything that I had and left nothing on the table."
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (4-1) and Oklahoma (0-3) will matchup again at 6 p.m. CT on Friday at the Ferrell Center. The match will streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Baylor Bear Insider
Ryan McGuyre says his second-ranked Baylor volleyball team is still trying to find its identity.
The Bears (4-1) displayed multiple personalities in Thursday's 3-2 win over Oklahoma, 25-16, 25-13, 17-25, 22-25, 15-13, extending their home-court winning streak to 21 in a row at the Ferrell Center.
They were scary dominant in winning the first two sets and looked like they were on the verge of running the Sooners (0-3) out of the gym. Then, Baylor was too passive and out of synch as OU took a nothing-to-lose attitude and bombed away in winning the next two sets and forcing a fifth.
"They were probably at a point where there was zero pressure," McGuyre said. "We always say that when you swing hard, good things happen on our end. We've got to make sure that when they swing hard, we're not bailing them out."
In the end, though, it was a resilient, gritty Baylor team that pulled it out in the fifth, 15-13. After OU went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-11 lead on a kill by Sana'a Dotson, the daughter of Baylor football Hall of Famer Santana Dotson, All-American Yossiana Pressley took over late and blasted the winner by going cross court just in front of All-Big 12 libero Keyton Kinley.
"I have a sense of urgency, and I'm dialed-in, more focused," said Pressley, who had a match-high 22 kills to move up to fifth on Baylor's all-time list with 1,521, "because it's like, 'OK, I need to make sure I do well right now and do my job as a hitter or a passer or a blocker, whatever the case may be. The team needed me to hit in that moment, so I just made sure I gave it everything I had and left nothing on the table."
McGuyre said Pressley is "not back to her form of last year yet," following an offseason surgery. "But, winners win. Yossi is a winner, and you find a way."
"I love how well she's carrying the team emotionally right now," McGuyre said, "where last year she could do it for us physically. Definitely at the end, she did both. Athletes are able to find that second gear when it's needed."
To their credit, the Bears were able to knock off the Sooners for the ninth time in a row without sophomore outside hitter Lauren Harrison, a transfer from North Carolina who is leading the team with 3.43 kills per set. Expected to be a focal point of Baylor's game plan, Harrison suffered a concussion this week in practice.
"Obviously, not having Lauren is a bummer, because Lo is such a good matchup for Oklahoma for us with their undersized setter over there," McGuyre said. "We had to shift gears. It probably makes it a dogfight tomorrow instead of a 3-sweep, 3-sweep deal."
Through the first two sets, that's exactly where it looked like the Bears were headed. They hit at a .419 clip with only five errors on a combined 62 swings while holding OU to a dismal .092 attack percentage.
And then, it was like the light switch flipped.
"OU definitely made some adjustments, and we were just slow to adjust to their adjustments," said junior setter Callie Williams, who finished with 49 assists, six kills and seven digs. "I think we got into a little bit of a passing rut and struggled to side-out. . . . Luckily, we were able to turn it around a little bit in the fifth set and come out with the win. But, we're looking forward to making some changes and playing better (Friday)."
After the hot start, McGuyre said part of the switch was Baylor's lack of focus in the third and fourth sets.
"We were horrifically slow to pick up their tips," he said. "I'm not sure they were passing any better, but funny things happen if our blocks aren't well-formed and balls are bouncing around. When we did get free balls, when we did get touches, we didn't make them pay for it. That was the frustrating part is we were tipping balls back at them, we didn't convert in transition at all."
Sophomore middle blocker Kara McGhee chipped in with 14 kills and three blocks, but 10 of her kills came in the first two sets. Marieke van der Mark added nine kills and two aces, while grad transfer Laché Harper from UCF had five kills and four blocks and hit .556 with zero errors.
Freshman Guewe Diouf led the Sooners with a career-high 20 kills, while Sarah Sanders and Dotson had 14 and 13, respectively.
"It's just the difference between focused and unfocused," McGuyre said. "(That was a) discouraging way to finish. The only positive is it looks like a 'W' five weeks from now."
Baylor and OU will return to the court to finish off the series with a match at 6 p.m. Friday that will be televised by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 2 Baylor volleyball (4-1) held off a late surge by Oklahoma (0-3) to keep its 21-match winning streak at the Ferrell Center alive, defeating the Sooners 25-16, 25-13, 17-25, 22-25, 15-13.
Senior Yossiana Pressley led the Bears with 22 kills, including the 1,500th of her career as she moved into fifth place on Baylor's all-time leaderboard. Redshirt-junior Callie Williams added 49 assists and junior Shanel Bramschreiber totaled 19 digs in the effort.
BU started out hot, running out to a 10-2 lead behind kills from sophomore Kara McGhee and Pressley. The Bears took advantage of some OU miscues, as the Sooners hit just .038 in the first set as opposed to Baylor's .333. McGhee put down the last four BU kills in the set, part of her 6-for-8 start.
In set two, Pressley put the Bears ahead 7-2 following another pair of McGhee kills. Redshirt-junior Marieke van der Mark, sophomore KJ Johnson, and graduate transfer Laché Harper all got in on the action, picking up kills in the set as the Bears cruised to a 25-13 victory.
OU would rebound, leading the third from wire-to-wire and holding the Bears to just an .088 attack percentage. Baylor began the fourth set with three-consecutive double blocks before the Sooners rallied to knot things up at 4-4. The two sides traded points throughout the remainder of the set and Guewe Diouf's kill eventually clinched it for OU, sending the match to five.
In the fifth, Williams spread the ball around as five Bears recorded kills. Junior Bri Coleman gave BU a spark off the bench, tallying a kill to pull within a point. Pressley lifted the Bears to a 9-8 lead, evened the score at 12-12, and sealed the win at 15-13 with kills.
To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.
HIGHLIGHTS
• With the victory, Baylor's home win streak increases to 21 matches, dating back to Nov. 16, 2018.
• The Bears extended their win streak to nine in matches against Oklahoma.
• Of the last nine meetings with OU, seven have gone past three sets.
• Under sixth-year head coach Ryan McGuyre, the Bears are now 110-5 when leading their opponent in hitting efficiency.
• BU is 104-17 under McGuyre when leading its opponent in kills.
• Yossiana Pressley recorded her 1,500th-career kill in the victory.
• Pressley now sits in fifth place on Baylor's all-time kills leaderboard with 1,521.
• Pressley recorded her first double-double of 2020 with 22 kills and 10 digs.
• Kara McGhee set a career high with 14 kills.
• Shanel Bramschreiber led the Bears with 19 digs, her third-consecutive double-digit outing.
• Bri Coleman recorded her first service ace of 2020.
• Freshman Cassie Davis made her collegiate debut, picking up two kills on six swings.
STAT OF THE MATCH
8 – Eight different Bears recorded a kill in the victory.
TOP QUOTES
Redshirt-junior setter Callie Williams
On playing with high-caliber hitters…
"It's so much fun. I've never played with such amazing hitters and teammates. It's just an absolute blessing for me. They make me look good. Obviously Yossi (Pressley), National Player of the Year, but Kara (McGhee) last week went 12-14, no errors and hit for 8-something, which is absolutely unheard of. She played really great tonight, but we wish we could've used her more in the set, but it was hard to find her. Same with Marieke (van der Mark). It's a lot of fun playing with them and I am defiantly blessed to have teammates like that."
Senior outside hitter Yossiana Pressley
On the final rally…
"I had a sense of urgency. I dialed in more and more focused. I need to make sure that I do well and do my job as a hitter, or as a passer, or as a blocker, or whatever it may be. If Marieke [van der Mark] is on fire, I'm going to make sure my passes are dialed in. If Laché Harper is hot, I'm going to make sure my passes are dialed in. It just depends on what the team needs at the moment. The team needed me to hit in that moment, so I just made sure that I gave it everything that I had and left nothing on the table."
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (4-1) and Oklahoma (0-3) will matchup again at 6 p.m. CT on Friday at the Ferrell Center. The match will streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
-BaylorBears.com-
Team Stats
OU
Baylor
Kills
51
62
Errors
21
21
Attempts
137
154
Hitting %
.219
.266
Points
62
76
Assists
51
57
Aces
5
6
Blocks
6
8
Game Leaders
Kills
22
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
14
Aces
1
Blocks
3
Kills
9
Aces
2
Blocks
5
Kills
6
Aces
1
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
L/DS
/ Volleyball
OH/OPP
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOPP
/ VolleyballS
/ VolleyballFlyin' High to 4️⃣-0️⃣ in Big 12 Conference play!
Sunday, October 05
The finishing touches 🎨 on 🔟 straight against the Coogs!
Sunday, October 05
Baylor Volleyball: Highlights vs. Kansas | October 3, 2025
Saturday, October 04
Baylor Volleyball: Highlights vs. Houston | October 1, 2025
Thursday, October 02
