Baylor volleyball (11-3, 1-0 Big 12) surged to a four-set win over Texas Tech in the team’s Big 12 opener Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16.
The Bears have now won six straight matches against the Red Raiders (11-3, 0-1 Big 12) and secured the win with five players hitting over .350.
Senior Katie Staiger led all players with 20 kills, and Yossiana Pressley added 15 on the outside while Shelly Fanning contributed 12 in the middle.
In her first Big 12 match, freshman Hannah Lockin dished 54 assists and added four kills in the win.
Baylor took control midway through the opening frame and lead 15-10 at the media timeout. Staiger closed out the first set to put the Bears in front, 25-20.
The Bears trailed 4-0 early and could never recover in the second set. After a Lockin and Fanning block gave the Bears a 21-19 lead, the Red Raiders closed out the set on a 6-2 run to even the match up, 25-23.
Baylor stormed back and hit .500 in the third frame en route to a 25-20 set win to retake the match lead.
BU used seven kills from Staiger and four blocks in the fourth set to close it out, 25-20.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Katie Staiger led all players with 20 kills on a .415 attack effort.
• Yossiana Pressley and Hannah Lockin totaled 19 combined kills and 54 assists, respectively.
• Baylor is now 4-0 when hitting .300 or better this season.
• The Bears and Red Raiders tied in blocks with 10 each.
• The Bears have now won six straight and 24 of the last 26 matches against Texas Tech.
STAT OF THE MATCH
.415 – the Bears’ offensive efficiency in their conference opener.
TOP QUOTE
“Offensively, I thought we were pretty solid all night. Hannah Lockin (had) the best match of the year for her. She’s really matured, and it’s great to see her be so good in the conference opener. Yossi (Pressley) was right behind her too. With those two freshmen – when they’re on then we’re really good. It was good to see the things we worked on offensively with that being the focus. Defensively, in the second set we didn’t slow too much down. (Texas) Tech is good. They’re really low error, so we had to earn our points.” -head coach Ryan McGuyre
WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears hit the road for a I-35 rival matchup against TCU (8-4, 0-1 Big 12) Saturday at 2 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest.
