WACO, Texas - Baylor picked up a statement win Thursday night, taking down No. 7 BYU in four sets and handing the Cougars their first Big 12 loss of the season.
The No. 23 Bears controlled the match early, then weathered BYU’s push in the third before closing it out in the fourth to secure their highest-ranked home victory since beating Texas in 2021. Baylor improved to 15-8 overall and 7-6 in Big 12 play, and for the second time in the last three seasons, the Bears delivered an opponent its first conference loss of the year.
Ksenia Rakhmanchik kept rolling. She finished with her fifth double-double of the season and stretched her run of consecutive 20-kill matches to seven, the longest streak of the Ryan McGuyre era.
Victoria Davis added a career-high 15 kills, Lacy Tinnell set a career high with nine, and Morgan Madison turned in another heavy defensive night with 26 digs, just one shy of her season best. It was Madison’s fourth 20-plus dig match of the year and her second straight.
Baylor set the tone right away in the first set, turning a tight battle into a 25-18 win with a 5-0 surge sparked by back-to-back kills from Rakhmanchik. The Bears hit .563 in the frame and finished it with a block and a Tinnell kill.
The second set was the wild one. Baylor and BYU traded punches deep into the frame, and the Bears had to fight off two set points before eventually pulling out a 30-28 win. Davis helped keep Baylor alive with a kill to tie it at 24-24, and after the Cougars clawed back into the lead again, Baylor answered with a Bailey Warren kill, a service ace from Isabela Haggard, and then the final swing from Rakhmanchik to go up 2-0 in the match.
BYU finally found some rhythm in the third. The Cougars built a slim edge, kept Baylor at arm’s length, and held on for a 25-21 set win to trim the Bears’ lead.
Baylor responded in the fourth and didn’t let the moment slip away. The Bears jumped ahead 4-1, Rakhmanchik reached her 20th kill of the night, and her service ace pushed Baylor into the media timeout with a two-point lead. After the break, Baylor kept pressing, Madison added a service ace to bring the Bears to match point, and even though BYU fought off two chances, Davis finished it with the match-winning kill.
The result evened the all-time series with BYU at 3-3, and Baylor is now 2-0 against the Cougars at home.
Afterward, McGuyre praised the way his team handled the night from start to finish. “It was great because it's a good win, start to finish.
We really were minimal on the runs that we gave up. I thought, game-plan wise, we executed really well.
You know, the big picture is, we got great play from everybody on the team. We served over 90%, so we didn't give away as many points as we did last time.
The sets we won, we hit a really high percentage. I love what our arms are doing and Ksusha [Rakhmanchik] is for sure a national player of the year candidate, but I think what Bela [Haggard] is doing for us on the court is really, really, really spectacular.”
Haggard said the Bears had been close enough in big matches to know one breakthrough was coming. “Honestly, I'm not surprised, and I mean that in the humblest way.
Everyone in the country has seen us play all these awesome teams so close, we would lose by like two points every single time. At some point, we're due one.
I just think tonight was a full team win. We passed super well in the first couple of sets, and that's how we can get our middles involved, and I think that was just a game changer from the start.”
Tinnell pointed to the confidence Baylor carried into the matchup after a tight one in Provo. “Honestly, Bella said it, we played these great teams really tight, we played well last time, and I think this time I just got to go out there and knew my team had my back, they trust me, and I'm going to execute when I'm given the ball, and so are the girls around me.”
Baylor heads to Boulder, Colo., next for a 2 p.m. CT match against Colorado. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+, with live stats available at BaylorBears.com/Stats.
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