WACO, Texas – Looking to bounce back from a three-set loss at TCU on Thursday, the West Virginia University volleyball team treks to Waco, Texas, for a 2 p.m. ET matchup with No. 1 Baylor on Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Ferrell Center.
 
"I think we're making strides, but we have to get better," fifth-year coach Reed Sunahara said. "Each match is a lesson learned, and hopefully, we can learn from Thursday's match at TCU."
 
Saturday's matchup will air live on Big 12 Now/ESPN+, with live stats available through StatBroadcast. Live video and stat links can be found on WVUsports.com.
 
The Mountaineers (10-10, 1-6) and Lady Bears (16-1, 6-1) first met in 1986, competing in a trio of neutral-site matchups before WVU joined the Big 12 in 2012. BU owns a 14-3 lead in the all-time series and is 6-2 in Waco. The two teams last met on Nov. 21, 2018, with Baylor claiming the 3-1 win at the Ferrell Center, in Waco, Texas. The last time the Mountaineers outlasted the Lady Bears was Nov. 22, 2014, as WVU topped BU in four sets for the season sweep at the WVU Coliseum.
 
West Virginia most recently suffered a 3-0 setback to Big 12 foe TCU on Thursday evening, at the University Recreation Center, in Fort Worth, Texas. The Horned Frogs took the match from the Mountaineers in set scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-21.
 
Senior outside hitter Katelyn Evans recorded her eighth consecutive match in double figures, finishing with a team-best 13 kills in the loss. Redshirt junior middle blocker Audrey Adams led the team's blocking efforts, registering six total blocks on the evening. WVU finished the match hitting .165 with 37 kills and eight team blocks.
 
Junior defensive specialist Alexa Hasting, a native of Plain City, Ohio, is 13 digs away from recording 1,000 career digs. The last Mountaineer to reach 1,000 career digs was Gianna Gotterba, as she hit the mark at Iowa State on Nov. 2, 2016.
 
Ranked No. 1 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll for the fourth consecutive week, Baylor's 16-match win streak came to an end on Wednesday evening, suffering its first loss of the season at the hands of No. 4 Texas, inside Gregory Gymnasium, in Austin, Texas. The Lady Bears fell to the Longhorns in set scores of 25-19, 25-10 and 25-19.
 
Baylor is hitting .297 on the year, averaging 14.62 kills per set to rank first in the Big 12 Conference. The Lady Bears also sport one of the best defenses in the league, holding its opponents to a .154 hitting percentage and averaging 2.73 blocks per set. Junior outside hitter Yossiana Pressley, a 2019 Preseason All-Big 12 honoree, sits atop the Big 12 and ranks No. 2 nationally with 5.76 kills per set, as well as 6.17 points per set. Defensively, freshman middle blocker Kara McGhee averages 1.32 blocks per set, ranking first in the league and 19th nationally.
 
West Virginia holds a 3-5 mark on the road this season, capturing victories at Delaware (Aug. 31), Kansas State (Oct. 12) and Morehead State (Oct. 15). With the win at K-State, WVU claimed their first Big 12 road win since upsetting then-No. 14 Kansas on Nov. 25, 2017. West Virginia is 2-6 at the Ferrell Center and has a 5-28 record in the state of Texas all-time.
 
Looking ahead, West Virginia will cap the month of October by welcoming Kansas State to the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday, Oct. 30, for a 6 p.m. ET matchup.
 
It is the first of two Dollar Nights planned for the year. All tickets and select concessions will be available for $1 each. Attendees also are invited to enter a Halloween costume contest and a pumpkin patch phot station will be set up for pictures. Additionally, the Mountaineers will pass out candy following the match.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUVolleyball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.