By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
Ryan McGuyre didn't have enough time to even unpack his bags through the first month of the 2023 season, with Baylor volleyball playing nine of its first 13 matches on the road and visiting the states of Minnesota, Colorado, Utah and Iowa.
 
In an overcorrection, "probably in a good way," the 23^rd-ranked Bears will play 12 of their first 13 matches in the Ferrell Center – including this weekend's season-opening Baylor Classic – and won't leave the state until October 10. Baylor faces ACU at 11 a.m. Friday, followed by Tulsa vs. Campbell at 1 p.m., ACU-Campbell at 5 p.m. and Baylor-Tulsa at 7:30.
 
With a new TeraFlex floor, the Bears were able to get "maybe an extra 20 minutes of reps or extra 20 jumps and swings on it," McGuyre said, "to finetune and get some of these things in."
 
"We're a high academic team, and grades matter with this group," the 10^th-year head coach said. "So, it's also less missed class time. I think they'll have a great foundation in their classes. And when we start going on the road a little bit later, they'll feel a lot more secure, one less thing for them to worry about for the ones that are trying to maintain their 4.0s and have great career goals beyond playing pro and the Olympics."
 
The Bears made their eighth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance last season, finishing 17-13 overall and losing to Kentucky after upsetting James Madison in the opening round. They return 13 players from that squad, including five starters, and brought in three transfers and three true freshmen.
 
Grad transfers Jackie Barrett Frazier (Auburn) and Jennifer Bolden (Howard) join an experienced roster that includes five seniors and a pair of preseason All-Big 12 picks in outside hitter Elise McGhee and libero Lauren Briseño.
 
"I'm so excited, especially for my last season at Baylor, just being in the moment," said Briseño, who had 356 digs and 24 service aces last season in earning second-team All-Big 12 honors. "It's so surreal, but also really looking ahead to the future. I think we had a really good offseason and just really pushing forward. I'm really excited, for sure."
 
One of the six newcomers, Frazier was a three-year starter at Auburn who recorded career highs last season in assists (1,060), kills (64) and service aces (30). She got married in May to Auburn tight end Brandon Frazier, who opted to play his fifth season with the Tigers.
 
Bolden is an opposite hitter who has recorded 648 career kills, while redshirt sophomore Brielle Warren spent two years at Purdue before transferring to Baylor from Colorado State after the spring semester. She is the daughter of former NFL defensive lineman Ty Warren, who won two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots.
 
The Bears also lost a pair of players in the portal, losing two-year starting setter Averi Carlson to Texas and sophomore libero Alexis Dacosta to Auburn. But they reloaded, signing opposite hitter Grace Carroll from San Antonio, libero/defensive specialist Taylor Crain from Pearland, Texas, and setter Emelyn Stettin from Elmhurst, Illinois, in a promising freshman class.
 
"It's just so fun and so awesome playing with all these girls," Carroll said. "I think in the short amount of time I've been here, we've all grown super close. . . . Coach Mac always talks about us being dragons. I think we've been really fulfilling that, and just being great at always swinging and annihilating, as he says."
 
In addition to Briseño and McGhee, a first-team All-Big 12 outside hitter who racked up 412 kills and 33 aces, also returning in the lineup are senior middle blocker Manuela Bibenbe, redshirt junior middle blocker Alicia Andrew and senior opposite hitter Allie Sczech. An instant-impact transfer, Bibenbe was a second-team All-Big 12 pick last year with 247 kills, a team-high 83 blocks and a phenomenal .368 attack percentage.
 
"This team, in particular, we don't have A versus B side," McGuyre said, "but it's competitive, back and forth. And we'll have starters for the first time (Friday). But I think our ability to have kind of interchangeable parts, that our depth this year is really strong, and there's genuine joy and love for who else is in our position group to do well."
 
Baylor is part of an expanded Big 12 that added Arizona, 17^th-ranked Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the Pac-12 while losing two-time defending champion Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. The Bears were picked fifth in the Big 12 coaches' preseason poll behind 13^th-ranked Kansas, No. 16 BYU, Arizona State and TCU.
 
"The Big 12 is really wide open. For sure, I don't think there's any clear frontrunner," McGuyre said. "When it was us and Texas, it was kind of like whoever went undefeated would win. Or, you have one loss, and you are co-champs. If you look at the Big 12 in basketball, our regular-season conference champs are sitting at four or five losses, maybe more. I think it might turn into that, possibly, just how the schedule works out and when teams are playing each other."
 
On Sunday, Baylor will face Campbell at 11 a.m., followed by Tulsa versus ACU at 1 p.m., to close out the Baylor Classic. All three Baylor matches will be streamed by ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former BU All-American Katie Staiger Smith calling the action in Friday's 11 a.m. opener.
 
"I think we know no game (in the Big 12) is easy," Briseño said. "But we've been really good at embracing the hard and doing the hard things and empowering our teammates to do that. I think every single day when we get into practice, we know not to take these times for granted. . . . We're just taking one game at a time. if we continue to do that, we'll be really successful."



WACO, Texas – No. 23 Baylor volleyball readies for the 2024 season to get underway with the 19^th iteration of the Baylor Classic on Friday at the Ferrell Center.
 
This year's Baylor Classic features Abilene Christian, Campbell and Tulsa alongside the Bears. BU is 46-6 all time in the tournament and will start the slate off with ACU at 11 a.m. Friday for the inaugural volleyball "Future Bears Day," where local classrooms are invited to the match.
 
Tulsa will face Campbell at approximately 1 p.m. CT before Abilene Christian takes on the Camels at 5 p.m. The final match of the opening day will be the Bears versus Tulsa at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Wildcats and Golden Hurricane are no strangers to this tournament, as ACU last participated in 2014 while Tulsa previously participated in the 2013 and 2022 iterations. Baylor is 1-0 against ACU and 1-1 against Tulsa in the Classic.
 
Where BU had no seniors on last year's squad, seven will graduate from the 2024 team. Two graduate transfers in Jackie Barrett Frazier, a setter from Auburn, and Jennifer Bolden, an opposite from Howard, join true seniors Lauren Briseño (L), Manuela Bibinbe (MB), Ava Grace Haggard (MB), Faith Lynch (DS) and Elise McGhee (OH) on the team.
 
Baylor brought in three freshmen in Grace Carroll (OPP), Taylor Crain (L/DS) and Emelyn Stettin (S) this spring, while redshirt sophomore Brielle Warren (OH) transfers from Purdue by way of Colorado State.
 
Head coach Ryan McGuyre is in his 10^th season at the helm and is the winningest coach of the program with a record of 196-76. The Californian has been coaching women's volleyball for 23 years and has produced 24 All-Americans and one Olympian in that span.
 
The Baylor matches will be streamed on ESPN+ with John Morris and Katie Smith on the call against ACU and Kurtis Quillin with Braya Choquette against Tulsa. Live stats can be found at BaylorBears.com/Stats, with a final scoresheet and full recap posted to BaylorBears.com after conclusion of play.
 
Fans interested in purchasing tickets can visit BaylorBears.com/Tickets. All seats are general admission for volleyball in the Ferrell Center.
 
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor volleyball, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorVBall.