MATCH STATS
- Baylor def. Washington State (23-25, 25-19, 26-24, 19-25, 15-12)
- Baylor improves to 4-1; Washington State drops to 3-1
- Cougar Challenge, Pullman, Washington
- Attendance: 825
- Box Score
In a back-and-forth match as closely contested as anticipated, the #25 Baylor Bears outlasted the Washington State Cougars (RV) in a tiebreaker set that saw sophomore middle blocker Shelly Fanning break a 12-12 tie with back-to-back-to-back kills.
Baylor also received key contributions from freshman setter Hannah Lockin, who tallied 59 assists in her fifth collegiate match. Senior outside Katie Staiger recorded her second double-double of the season and 22nd of her career with 17 kills and 13 digs.
For the Cougars, senior opposite Casey Schoenlein had six blocks and junior middle Claire Martin added five more, while sophomore libero Alexis Dirige anchored the Washington State defense with 20 digs.
In set one, neither team was able to build more than a single-point lead until back-to-back blocks by sophomore middle blocker Jocelyn Urias forced a Baylor timeout at 22-20. A kill by freshman outside Yossiana Pressley brought the Bears as close as 24-23 before an attack error gave the set to the Cougars.
Baylor built a 7-4 cushion in the second on kills by Fanning and junior outside Aniah Philo. The lead would grow to 15-10 on Fanning’s ninth kill of the match and a kill by Pressley would end it in favor of the Bears at 25-19.
In the third, the Cougars built a 16-13 lead on a block and kill by senior opposite Casey Schoenlein before Baylor stormed back to knot the score at 18. A kill by senior middle Camryn Freiberg and ace by Jana Brusek gave the Bears the 26-24 deuce set victory.
The fourth was all Washington State, ending on a four-point service run by sophomore Ashley Brown that included two aces.
Baylor led 8-5 at the side change in the tiebreaker set, but Washington State used another serving run by Brown to take a 11-10 lead. After a Staiger kill and Brusek ace gave the Bears the lead again, Washington State managed one more point before Fanning delivered the three consecutive kills that would win the night for the Bears.
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Courtesy: Washington State Athletics
Volleyball Falls to Baylor in Five Sets
PULLMAN, Wash. — The Washington State volleyball team (3-1) lost its first match of the season in five sets to Baylor Thursday night in the fourth contest of the Cougar Challenge Tournament at Bohler Gym.
Baylor (3-1) won with set scores of 23-25, 25-19, 26-24, 19-25, and 15-12.
A trio of junior led the Cougars with Taylor Mims’ 16 kills, McKenna Woodford’s 12 kills and Ella Lajos’ 10 kills while hitting a match-high .562 percent. Casey Schoenlein and Jocelyn Urias each had a match-high six blocks each as WSU won the blocking battle 14 to six. Both setters had double-doubles with sophomore Ashley Brown tallying 21 assists and 11 digs with four of WSU’s six service aces. Freshman Panny Tusa had 19 assists and 13 digs. Sophomore Alexis Dirige led the Cougs with 20 digs.
WHY & HOW…
WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said, “Baylor is definitely a fantastic team and this is a team like we will see in the Pac-12 Conference. So a lot of experience was gained tonight. Some good things and of course a lot of things to work on. But I thought the overall experience of a tight match and going five will pay dividends later on in the season.”
On making the comeback in the fourth set being down 2-1 Greeny said, “I think we passed really well and our block really started to heat up in the fourth and forced their hitters to make some errors. With blocking and defense we really turned that around.”
On the quick turnaround in tournament play Greeny said, “It’s never easy so I definitely won’t say it’s easy but just trying to learn from both matches today and turn around and put those lessons into action tomorrow is something that everyone in the country is doing right now. We need to do that as well. Baylor is a great team and best of luck to them the rest of the season.”
Courtesy: Baylor Athletics
VB Wins Five-Set Thriller over Washington State
Bears win road test against Cougars to open tournament play.
PULLMAN, Wash. – Baylor volleyball (3-1) stood firm in an energetic road environment as it defeated Washington State in five sets, 23-25, 25-19, 26-24, 19-25, 15-12, at Bohler Gym Thursday night.
The Bears used 11 kills in the fifth set to win its second-straight five-set match over the Cougars (3-1), dating back to last season.
Katie Staiger had 17 kills and 13 digs in her 100th career match to earn her 22nd double-double and second of the season.
Shelly Fanning also added 17 kills in addition to three straight kills to end the match. Camryn Freiberg contributed 12 kills out of the middle, and Aniah Philo and Yossiana Pressley chipped in nine each.
Hannah Lockin set a season high with 59 assists in the five setter, and Jana Brusek had 21 digs out of the back row.
Baylor had a balanced attack in the opening frame, hitting .289. Ultimately, Washington State’s three blocks and two aces gave the Cougars the first-set advantage, 25-23.
BU fired back in set two, limiting the Cougars to a .000 hitting clip and adding 15 kills to take the second set, 25-19.
The third set came down to extra points, and big service pressure gave Baylor the 2-1 advantage. After pulling within one at 20-19 in the fourth set, the Bears allowed WSU to take the next five points to force a decisive set.
In set five, Baylor jumped out in a hurry, leading 8-5 at the changeover. Baylor fell behind once more at 11-10, but the Bears would close out the set on 3-0 run for the victory.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Katie Staiger collected her second double-double of the season and 22nd of her career in her 100th match (17 kills, 13 digs).
- Shelly Fanning matched a career-high 17 kills against WSU, originally set on Sept. 4, 2015 against Sam Houston State.
- Baylor held Washington State to a .135 attack effort in five sets, limiting the Cougars to a .000 effort in set two.
- Hannah Lockin set a season-high 59 assists in the win.
- Baylor now leads 2-1 all-time against Washington State.
STAT OF THE MATCH
34 – the amount of combined kills by Katie Staiger and Shelly Fanning.
TOP QUOTE #1
“You’ve got to be excited about what we’re doing with our middles. Shelly and Camryn were both unstoppable, and I thought (Hannah) Lockin did a phenomenal job finding them and moving the ball around. That’s normally the hard part. Now, we’ve got to get dialed in. We’ve got to be crisper on the pins. We really didn’t have a great attack, but we are doing the little things like playing defense and getting our middles going.” -head coach Ryan McGuyre
TOP QUOTE #2
“I love going to fifth sets. You’ve just got to enjoy them and play them. We have had a really good record with them. At that point, it’s about who’s going to execute what’s they’re doing. For us, it always comes down to training. We made some great digs down the stretch. Our attack errors were limited in the fifth set. We had a lot of 50-50 balls that could have gone either way, but I thought our composure was the difference today.” -head coach Ryan McGuyre
WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears meet Quinnipiac in day two of the Cougar Challenge Friday at 7 p.m. CT in Pullman.
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