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There is one fewer undefeated women’s college volleyball team in the country.
No. 5 Baylor (8-0) handed No. 17 Missouri (8-1) its first loss of the season on Friday, sweeping the Tigers 25-17, 25-21, 25-23 at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. It will be quick turnaround for the Tigers, who face their second consecutive unbeaten ranked team in No. 13 Hawaii (9-0) today at 8 a.m.
It also is a quick turnaround for the Rainbow Wahine, who had issues flying out of Honolulu on Thursday on their first road trip of the season. Hawaii’s direct flight to Dallas was delayed to the point where the team rebooked through Los Angeles and didn’t get into Waco until later Friday afternoon.
The Wahine will see a Tigers team that got 21 kills from 6-foot-4 junior hitter Kylie DeBerg over the 91 minutes but didn’t give her much help. Missouri hit .220, its second-lowest percentage of the season.
The Tigers had a chance at preventing being swept, tying Set 3 at 24. But DeBerg was blocked and Baylor’s second ace ended it.
Baylor junior hitter Yossiana Pressley finished with 19 kills after getting off to a slow start, hitting negative midway through Set 1. She had four kills, helping Baylor break away from 18-17 to 24-21, then went a perfect 5-for-5 to open Set 2 and give the Bears a 8-5 lead.
Shelly Stafford added 11 kills with one error and was in on five of Baylor’s nine blocks.
“I think we can learn from our mistakes and use that in preparation versus another great team in Hawaii,” Missouri’s first-year interim coach Josh Taylor (Punahou) said in a postmatch interview. “Baylor took advantage of some late runs in almost each set and that was the difference tonight.”
Baylor set a program attendance record on Sept. 14 with 3,878 against Tennessee. Yesterday’s crowd of 1,007 saw the Bears complete their sixth sweep.
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