Baylor volleyball (20-8, 8-4 Big 12) took a three-set sweep over the West Virginia Mountaineers (12-15, 3-10 Big 12), 25-17, 25-21, 25-23, Saturday afternoon in the Ferrell Center.
Baylor eclipsed a number of milestones with the win, including the first 20-win season since 2012 and the first eight-win season in conference play since 2010.
The Bears have also locked in a .500 or better finish in Big 12 play for the first time since 2009, when Baylor finished 11-9 in conference and went on to the Sweet 16.
In set one, the Bears cruised by the Mountaineers, jumping out to a seven-point lead at 18-11. BU used a kill from Ashley Fritcher and forced a WVU attack error to close out the frame and take the 1-0 lead.
In the second, Baylor saw a four-point lead at 15-11 cut down, with WVU taking a one-point lead as late as 19-18. The Bears responded, mounting a 7-2 run to close out the set and go up 2-0.
In the final set, neither team led by more than two points throughout the entire set, with a WVU block tying the set at 23-23 late in the frame.
Back-to-back kills from Camryn Freiberg and Aniah Philo finished off the sweep, giving BU the 3-0 match victory.
HIGHLIGHTS
Baylor swept the season series with WVU for the second-straight season, having won the last four matchups between the teams.
Katie Staiger (561 kills) passed Tisha Schwartz (554, 2003) for the No. 7 spot on Baylor’s single-season kills list.
Jana Brusek (473 digs) bumped past Brenda Kunz (465, 1993) for the No. 9 spot on Baylor’s single-season digs list.
Baylor had four hitters with .375 or better attack rates: Camryn Freiberg, .450 (9-0-20); Katie Staiger, .424 (18-4-33); Nicole Thomas, .429 (4-1-7); Ashley Fritcher, .375 (5-2-8).
QUOTE OF THE MATCH
“We talked defense. Defense for us has always been tough serves, well-formed blocks, digs, and even kills, and in the second set, the serve was the difference. It almost hurt us, we had some missed serves towards the end in the third set, and it kept them alive. We’ve got to stay great at serving and passing, TCU serves really great in their gym there. It's loud, so we have to work on communicating within the plays with that eye contact and the hand signals. To go deep in postseason, we have to be able to make plays and adjustments.” –Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre
STAT OF THE DAY
6 – the number of kills for Camryn Freiberg in the third and final set, securing two-thirds of her total kill total in the last frame
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor heads into the penultimate week of the regular season, trekking to TCU on Wednesday, Nov. 16 for a 7 p.m. match.
