By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Facing a pair of top-10 teams right out of the box and six ranked teams in the first month of the season, Ryan McGuyre's No. 15 Baylor volleyball team will certainly be tested by fire.
            Coming off a 25-win season and fourth-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, the Bears will open on the road for the third year in a row with the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge. They play No. 2 Wisconsin at 4:30 p.m. CT Friday in the Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn., then No. 7 Minnesota at 7 p.m. Friday on the Golden Gophers' home floor.
            "We know it's going to be tough, but the girls have already bought in and they're just being great warriors," said McGuyre, who has six freshmen and no seniors on his 18-player roster. "The idea is that a warrior is never defeated.
            "You win championships in December, so we want to be the best team possible in December. We're trying to be as good as we can be now, but we're really committed to one degree better. It just means we have to be wise and adaptive as we go into many, many hostile environments."
            After splitting the matches against Minnesota and Wisconsin each of the last two years, McGuyre says "we'd love to go 2-0 this year and next year," when Baylor gets the chance to host it after traveling to Madison, Wisc., Fort Worth and Minneapolis for the first three installments of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge.
            Wisconsin returns the bulk of a 28-4 team that advanced to the region finals and added a pair of talented transfers in second-team All-American outside hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara from Northwestern and 6-7 middle blocker Carter Booth, a first-team All-Big Ten pick from Minnesota.
            "I think Wisconsin, preseason, had a case for No. 1," McGuyre said, "just as far as the transfers they brought in. But it's also the first match, so how well have the gelled? I think we do that well, could be an advantage for us."
            A Baylor recruiting class that was ranked seventh nationally by PrepVolleyball.com included three top-25 freshmen and a junior college All-American in 6-3 middle blocker Manuela Bibinbe from Missouri State West Plains.
            "I feel like when I first got here in the spring, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, what's going on?''' said Bibinbe, originally from Cameroon. "Having to travel and doing this at 8 a.m., doing this at 9 a.m. . . . but now, I feel like I'm used to it."
            McGuyre said Bibinbe is "extremely joyful" and "worth the price of admission just to watch her play."
            "She plays a ferociousness and has a smile all the time. It's just awesome," McGuyre said. "(She's) fearless in everything she's doing. But the love that she has for just playing feels like when I first started playing volleyball for the first time. She definitely impacts her teammates in that way."
            Baylor boasts a pair of preseason All-Big 12 picks in sophomore setter Averi Carlson, the conference Freshman of the Year last season, and 6-4 sophomore opposite-side hitter Allie Sczech. This summer, Sczech and junior libero Lauren Briseño won gold medals with the USA Volleyball U21 team at the Pan American Cup.
            "We did lose a bunch of seniors," Carlson said of middle blockers Kara McGhee and Mallory Talbert and outside hitter Lauren Harrison, "but I feel like we're just as good this year just because we've been training so hard this summer. And the freshmen that have come in, they're all amazing athletes and all willing to work really, really hard."
            Freshman outside hitter Kyndal Stowers, the 16^th-ranked recruit in the country, had 24 kills in a 3-1 exhibition win on the road over Texas A&M.
            "Honestly, all of the freshmen are learning really fast," McGuyre said. "Going into the season, I was like, 'Hey, am I going to need to redshirt all of them?' It's two weeks, and we're playing these big matches. We'll work on those conversations a little bit, but all of them have made huge, huge strides. Love seeing that. It's a testament to the sophomores and juniors and how they've brought them along with their leadership."
            Picked third in the Big Ten preseason poll behind Wisconsin and Nebraska, Minnesota also lost outside hitter Jenna Wenaas to Texas. But the Golden Gophers, under
            In addition to losing Booth, Minnesota had 6-1 outside hitter Jenna Wenaas transferred to Texas. But the Golden Gophers, under the direction of former Washington coach Keegan Cook, return Big Ten Player of the Year Taylor Landfair and two other preseason All-Big Ten picks in senior libero Kylie Murr and senior setter Melanie Shaffmaster.
            "Minnesota will look a little different," McGuyre said. "They're still loaded, still lots of talent, still well-trained, and they're going to be good. Those teams (Minnesota and Wisconsin) will be battling for the Big Ten championship."
            All four matches this weekend, including TCU vs. Minnesota on Friday and the Horned Frogs vs. Wisconsin on Saturday, will be broadcast by the Big Ten Network.
            The Bears will return home to host No. 23 Rice in the home opener next Friday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. in the Ferrell Center.


MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The 15^th-ranked Baylor volleyball squad starts its 2023 season on the road with the third installment of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge on Friday when the Bears face second-ranked Wisconsin, then BU will play No. 7 Minnesota on Saturday.
 
Both matches will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. The match with the Badgers begins at 4:30 p.m. CT, while the match with the Golden Gophers is slated for 7 p.m. CT. All matches will be played in the Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn.
 
Overall, the Bears are 23-22 in season openers and 13-8 when starting on neutral ground. Baylor has opened its season on the road for the last five seasons.
 
BU split the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge in the first two years, winning against Minnesota in 2021 and against Wisconsin in 2022.  This year, there is a new coach on the block, with Minnesota tapping Washington's Keegan Cook for the head job. In his tenure, Ryan McGuyre is 3-2 against Wisconsin and 1-2 against Minnesota.
 
Heading into their sophomore season, Baylor's Averi Carlson and Allie Sczech were both named Preseason All-Big 12 while Kyndal Stowers was tabbed Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year. BU was picked to finish third in the conference behind Texas and BYU.
 
In the AVCA/Teraflex Preseason Coaches Poll, the Bears have eight opponents ranked and four others receiving votes. 
 
BU closed its preseason with a 3-1 exhibition match win against Texas A&M on August 19^th, with Stowers collecting 24 kills, Lauren Briseño had 15 digs, Carlson with 51 assists and five blocks, while Sczech and Manuela Bibinbe each had four. 
 
There are no seniors on the squad, a first for McGuyre and the first time since 2004 for the Baylor program. The freshman class is made up of six student-athletes, with three ranked in the top-25. Bibinbe is a JUCO transfer from Missouri State West Plains, originally from Cameroon. The class as a whole was ranked No. 7 by PrepVolleyball.com.
 
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.