No. 25 Baylor volleyball (20-9) forced a fifth set for the second-straight night but ultimately couldn’t overcome a late deficit in a five-set loss to No. 14 and 15th-seeded Oregon (22-10) Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena, 25-18, 13-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-13.
Baylor concluded its season in the NCAA Second Round for the third-straight year under head coach Ryan McGuyre.
Yossiana Pressley led the Bears with 17 kills on a .208 hitting efficiency while Shelly Fanning and Aniah Philo scored in double digits with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Philo recorded her 14th double-double of the season and 34th of her career after she added 12 digs.
Despite the loss, the Bears had more service aces (9-6) and digs (70-61) than the Ducks. Oregon’s Lindsey Vander Wiede led all players with 21 kills while Ronika Stone added 11.
BU fell flat in the opening frame and couldn’t find its rhythm, falling down 15-5 after an attack error. After being down 21-11, the Bears chipped away and ended the set on a 7-4 run before Oregon used a kill to take the opener, 25-18.
Baylor came firing back in the second set and used a Fanning service ace to go up 13-7. BU didn’t let up and used four kills down the stretch to hit .458 and even up the match, 25-13.
The third set saw Baylor playing from behind the entire time. When a Pressley kill cut the deficit to four, Oregon took six of the last eight points to go up 2-1 in the match, 25-17.
Down 14-10 and 19-15 in the fourth frame, the Bears fought back and went on a 7-2 run to take the lead at 22-21. Hannah Lockin put down a service ace before Pressley tallied the final point to send the match to a fifth set, 25-22.
Baylor fell behind 5-2 after an Oregon block, but a kill from Fanning and Gia Milana brought the Bears within one. Oregon went into the changeover with an 8-4 lead and set up match point at 14-11. BU wasn’t done yet and used a kill and a block to pull within one at 14-13. Oregon ultimately got the final kill to end the match, 15-13.
