No. 14 VB Sweeps Colorado State on Friday

Friday, September 8

Fort Collins, Colo.

6PM

Baylor

Colorado State

Photo by: Colorado State Creative

No. 14 VB Sweeps Colorado State on Friday

9/8/2023 9:47:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bears get their first three-set win of the season in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The 14^th-ranked Baylor volleyball squad had their first sweep of the season against Colorado State on Friday night at Moby Arena in the Ram Volleyball Classic, ending a three-match winning streak for CSU.

BU (2-3) defeated the Rams (4-4) in three sets – 25-18, 25-20, 26-24. Colorado State received votes in the latest AVCA/Teraflex Coaches Poll on September 4.

The Bears were led by Kyndal Stowers in kills for the second-straight match, raking in 19 kills with a .472 hitting percentage. Allie Sczech had a career-high two aces while Faith Lynch had two clutch aces, including the match-winning point.

Baylor led in kills, assists and blocks against the Rams, while tying them in aces.

With the win, head coach Ryan McGuyre tied Jim Barnes (2004-14) as the winningest coach in program history at 181 victories.

THE RUNDOWN
Set 1
The Bears let one ball fall to start the set but Sczech returned it with back-to-back kills, followed by her first ace of the night to put BU up 3-2. An attack error continued the run but a CSU kill ended it. Manuela Bibinbe got her first kill of the night and then Averi Carlson had a sneaky dump to make it 6-5. Pulling ahead, McGhee recorded back-to-back kills, with Carlson dumping again just after, Baylor now up by three at 9-6. Alicia Andrew joined the box score with a kill to make it 10-8 but CSU quickly tied it back up. By the first media timeout, BU was up 15-12 thanks to errors from the Rams and a solo block from Carlson. Sczech got a kill, Elise McGhee her first ace, and Colorado State called timeout. To end the set, 25-18, the Bears had kills from Sczech and Bibinbe.

Set 2
Second set had CSU scoring the first point for the second-consecutive set, but right after was a kill from Sczech to silence. McGuyre challenged a call early and had it reversed, 2-1 Baylor. Stowers got a kill out of it, then Sczech, and then had back-to-back kills from Stowers. Sczech then served up her second ace on the night, a career-high for the sophomore, and Colorado State called timeout. Fast forward to 9-5 thanks to two more Stowers kills, then McGhee made it 10-6. The 11^th and 12^th points came from McGhee and Stowers, respectively, before Andrew got in on the action. Stowers had a kill and then an ace to make it 17-12. Bibinbe and McGhee forced a timeout from CSU and the Rams returned with four points, McGuyre then calling time. Stowers and Sczech kept getting kills, bringing it to set point, and it was a block from Sczech and Andrew to end the set, 25-20.

Set 3
Baylor pulled away from the Rams early in the third set with Bibinbe getting a kill and then Sczech and Bibinbe teaming up for the block. Stowers sandwiched another Bibinbe kill and CSU called timeout at 9-3. McGhee got the 10^th point of the set and Stowers followed it. Andrew had a kill and then Carlson got one of her own, now 13-7. Faith Lynch came in the match and got an ace at 19-13. Stowers had three more kills with one CSU kill interrupting, before Bibinbe scored one. The Rams inched in, now 20-18, and BU called timeout. After Colorado State replied with three more kills, BU called time again. Sczech had a kill but the Rams tied it, then again at 23-all. Momentum on the cusp of switching, Stowers sandwiched a CSU kill and McGhee scored to make it 25-24. Lynch came back in the match and served up her second ace of the night to close the match, 26-24.

HIGHLIGHTS

Career-high aces for Allie Sczech with two
Lynch also served up two aces
Sczech and Stowers finished with a combined three errors; Sczech with one and Stowers with two
Stowers finished with 19 kills at .472 hitting percentage and Sczech with 10 kills at .375
Briseño had eight digs to lead the team while both Carlson and Andrew each had three blocks

QUOTABLE – Head Coach Ryan McGuyre
"Really proud of our team volleyball. We had to make some adjustments from our last match and fine-tune some things, but we seemed to be in rhythm. I thought Averi [Carlson] did a good job of distributing the volleyball and moving it around, keeping our offense a lot less predictable. We were very low error tonight, we executed well. Incredibly impressive what Stowers did again tonight, I think they served her every ball. A highlight was definitely Faith [Lynch], she won it for us in three and kept us from going late. Her two aces were difference-makers. You never know when it's your turn to shine and I'm grateful for her leadership; she came up huge for us. Great chemistry tonight; our defense and offense really worked together and I'm pleased with what we did offensively."

UP NEXT
The Bears face Bowling Green on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. CT at Moby Arena for their second match in the Ram Volleyball Classic.

BG fell to Pacific on Friday afternoon to make their record 4-4 going into their match with the Bears.

Live stats for the match can be found here.

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

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