No. 7 Baylor is back at Betty Lou Mays Field on Sunday afternoon, welcoming Kansas State for a noon kickoff in Waco.
The Bears come in riding a No. 7 national ranking, their fourth top-10 spot under Michelle Lenard and the ninth top-10 ranking in program history. Baylor has already reached as high as No. 6 this season, which marked a program best in the second week of the poll.
This will be the ninth matchup between Baylor and Kansas State, and the Bears have controlled the series. Baylor has won the last two meetings, including a 3-0 road victory in the Little Apple last season, and owns a 6-1-1 edge all-time.
Kansas State arrives at 5-4-4 and is still chasing its first conference win. The Wildcats have fallen to Houston, 3-0, Arizona State, 2-0, and BYU, 2-1, while earning a 1-1 tie against Arizona.
Gabby Demers leads the offense with five goals and two assists, while Rilyn Rintoul and Langley Mayers are tied for the team lead with three assists apiece. In goal, Maddie Sibbing has started all 13 matches and has 45 saves, a 1.24 goals-against average and three shutouts.
Baylor, meanwhile, sits at 10-2-1 after taking its first conference loss at No. 24 Colorado, a 3-0 defeat in Boulder.
Aryanna Jimison leads the Bears with 15 points on six goals and three assists, and Lauren Omholt follows with 12 points on five goals and two assists. Azul Alvarez has handled every minute in goal for Baylor, posting 44 saves and a 1.52 goals-against average.
Sunday’s match opens the next stretch of Baylor’s homestand, with TCU coming to Waco on Friday, Oct. 16. All home regular-season matches are free and available on ESPN+.
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For Baylor, the challenge begins with the draw and the margin for error that comes with it. The Bears are in Pool D with Kansas, TCU and West Virginia as the No. 13 seed, which means every match will matter in a setting built around momentum, quick swings and the kind of head-to-head battles that can reward a team playing its sharpest golf at the right time. [Read more 🡒]
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Baylor Has A Few Underused Weapons Who Could Change Everything Down Stretch
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Jadon Porter has already shown how quickly a modest role can turn into a game-changing one, while Jayden McGowan has also given the staff another option worth expanding. The same goes for the tight end room, where Matthew Klopfenstein and Hawkins Polley offer size and versatility that could help Baylor stress defenses in ways it has not fully tapped into yet, and the next stretch will reveal whether those pieces stay complementary or become central to the offenses finish. [Read more 🡒]