No. 23 Baylor gets another crack at No. 7 BYU on Thursday night, and this one comes with plenty of unfinished business.
The Bears are back at the Ferrell Center in Waco for a 7 p.m. CT matchup on ESPN+, facing a Cougars team that has rolled through Big 12 play at 20-1 overall and 12-0 in the conference. BYU took the first meeting this season, a 3-2 win in Provo on Sept. 25, but Baylor pushed that match to the brink after erasing a 0-2 deficit and nearly pulling off the comeback.
That night in Utah, Baylor hit .393, which stands as a Big 12 record for a five-set match. The Bears also delivered one of their best offensive stretches of the season in the third set, when they hit .643 - the 12th-best single-set mark in program history. Isabela Haggard finished with a career-high 57 assists in that match, and Baylor also won the only previous meeting in Waco, a 3-2 result last October.
Ryan McGuyre said the Bears left that first meeting feeling like they had let one slip, but he also pointed to how different this group looks now.
"We didn't have MJ [McCurdy], we didn't have one of our middles, and I think Bailey was two weeks into her return when we went out there," he said. "I liked how he played, I liked how he competed and really liked what we did offensively. We slowed balls down there, but the serve and pass in the fifth set broke down a little bit - not a lot to where it's broken - but we just weren't hitting on all cylinders for a point or two, and that's the difference in our sport sometimes."
Ksenia Rakhmanchik was a major part of that first matchup, finishing with 26 kills. She comes into Thursday leading the Big 12 and ranking third nationally with 5.09 kills per set, while her 5.51 points per set tops the league and sits seventh in the country.
The sophomore picked up her fifth "Starting Seven" honor of the season on Monday after matching her career high with 32 kills at Kansas State. That total was the most by any Big 12 player this season, the 24th 30-kill performance in Baylor history, and it made her just the fourth player in program history with multiple 30-kill matches. She has now posted double-digit kills in 31 straight matches and is 26 kills away from 800 for her career.
Haggard remains a steady engine for the offense, averaging 10.05 assists per set, good for third in the Big 12. She is 194 assists from 2,000 in her career.
Morgan Madison is also closing in on a milestone, needing four digs to reach 700 after collecting 26 at Kansas State. Nadiya Johnson is eight kills short of 200.
Baylor enters the night at 14-8 overall and 6-6 in Big 12 play, ranked No. 23 and sitting in the top 25 for a fourth straight week. The Bears have now been included in 131 of the last 133 AVCA polls.
After Thursday, Baylor heads to Boulder, Colo., to face Colorado on Sunday at 2 p.m. in a chance to avenge an earlier loss to the Buffs.
In Other News...
Baylors Upset Chances At BYU Come Down To One Lingering Problem
Baylor heads into its first ranked matchup of the season with three regular-season games left, and the timing could hardly be more important. Interim head coach Joe Klanderman and tight end coach Jarrett Anderson have both pointed to the same theme in recent days: the Bears need cleaner offensive execution if they want to give themselves a real shot against No. 10 BYU, especially when drives reach the red zone or when space opens up in the field.
The challenge is bigger than just finishing chances, though. Baylor has to avoid the kind of slow starts and self-inflicted penalties that can tilt a game before it settles in, and the emphasis this week has been on playing with energy while keeping things under control. Against a ranked opponent that can punish mistakes quickly, the Bears know the margin for error is thin, and one lingering issue could decide whether they can turn this into a true upset opportunity. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Faces A Huge Big 12 Test With Its Offense Under Pressure
Baylor heads to Provo on Nov. 14 for a Big 12 game that carries real weight in the conference race, with both teams sitting tied in the standings and the stakes rising for anyone still thinking about a championship path. BYU enters as a 7.5-point favorite at LaVell Edwards Stadium, but the Bears have enough of their own to make this more than a road trip, especially with interim coach Joe Klanderman trying to keep the group steady and quarterback DJ Lagway at the center of it all.
BYUs side of the matchup has its own pressure points, starting with quarterback Bear Bachmeier and the uncertainty around running back LJ Martins health. For Baylor, the opening is obvious: if the Bears can make the Cougars uncomfortable and keep the game from turning into a clean BYU script, they can turn a tough road spot into a meaningful conference statement. [Read more 🡒]
Baylors Season Suddenly Feels Very Different Under Joe Klanderman
With three weeks left in the regular season, Baylors season has suddenly taken on a different shape under interim coach Joe Klanderman. The Bears have won two straight, locked up bowl eligibility and kept themselves alive in the Big 12 championship race, a turnaround that has given the program a much more meaningful finish than it seemed likely to have not long ago.
The league around them only adds to the intrigue. Utah remains unbeaten and on track for the conference title game, while the Big 12s depth is showing in the College Football Playoff rankings, which feature six league teams in the Top 25. There has also been plenty of movement elsewhere, from Drew Mestemakers record-setting day for Oklahoma State against Kansas State to the uncertainty now hanging over TCU, and Baylor is suddenly part of a crowded, volatile race that still has room to shift again. [Read more 🡒]