MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite 51 kills from the offense, the West Virginia University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 match to Big 12 foe Baylor on Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. The Mountaineers, who move to 11-10, 2-5 on the season, took the loss in set scores of 22-25, 16-25, 25-22 and 25-21 to the Bears (16-6, 4-2).
“I thought we did some good things,” said WVU coach
Reed Sunahara. “But I thought we dug ourselves too many holes to overcome. Baylor played well. They're a good team. We've just got to figure out how to overcome out deficits.”
Swanegan led the blocking effort with a total of eight, followed by Montgomery and
Erin Slinde with a trio of block assists each. Shreve and Levak each added a pair as well.
Five Mountaineers recorded a service ace: Caffrey, Swanegan, Hughes, Gotterba and Levak.
A Baylor service error, followed by a Levak kill and an ace by Hughes pushed WVU in front, 8-5, in the first set. A 4-0 run soon after made it 13-9 in favor of the Mountaineers, but Baylor went on its own 4-0 run to even the score at 14-14. Though WVU hung with the Bears, a pair of late Mountaineer service errors combined with a pair of BU kills gave Baylor the 25-22 win in the set.
Caffrey hit a blazing .545 with seven kills in the second frame, but it wasn't enough for a WVU win. Baylor withstood a WVU stoppage to score five straight for a 5-1 advantage. The Mountaineers never found the momentum to match Bears as back-to-back West Virginia attacking errors pushed the BU advantage to seven at 17-10. Back-to-back Baylor kills capped the set as WVU took the 25-16 loss for a 2-0 hole.
WVU started the third set in a 4-0 hole, but quickly worked its way out using a block and a kill by Swanegan to score five straight for a 9-7 lead. Baylor hung around, tying the match at 14-14 on a Mountaineer attacking error, before Caffrey scored an ace and a pair of kills for a 22-17 WVU lead. Montgomery and Shreve each found the court as the Mountaineers took the 25-22 win to trail 2-1 in the match.
Attempting to carry the momentum into the fourth stanza, WVU tied the set 5-5 on a kill from Montgomery. Following a service ace by Swanegan, Baylor rolled to three straight points for a 9-7 advantage. Four straight WVU errors pushed the Bears' lead to 20-14. The Mountaineers used kills from Montgomery and Levak to come within three, down 22-19, before Baylor used a timeout. A kill put the Bears at match point with a 24-19 lead and though Caffrey buried the ball to keep the match going, Baylor came through will a kill for the 25-21 win and the 3-1 triumph in the match.
Katie Staiger led the Bears with 18 kills, while Camryn Freiberg had seven block assists. Baylor hit .200 with 45 kills and 11 team blocks.
WVU heads on a two-match road swing through Kansas next week. The Mountaineers travel to Lawrence to face No. 6 Kansas on Wednesday before making their way to Manhattan on Saturday for a match at Kansas State.
