Baylor volleyball will begin its 2026 season in a familiar kind of setting: on the road, and against a challenging opening slate in Hawaii.
The Bears are headed to the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic, where they’ll play three matches over the weekend against San Diego, Hawaii and Georgia Southern. Baylor opens against San Diego at 9 p.m.
CT Friday, then faces Hawaii at midnight CT early Sunday morning before wrapping up the tournament against Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. CT Sunday.
That first matchup with the Toreros continues a pattern Baylor has leaned into early in the season. Friday’s match will be the ninth time in the last 11 seasons that the Bears have opened the year against a team ranked or receiving votes during the first weekend.
Junior outside hitter MJ McCurdy said the group is keeping both the immediate task and the bigger picture in mind.
"We want to go 3-0," she said. "We also just want to grow as a team.
We've obviously played exhibition games, but I think we'll get more comfortable playing together in every game. When we come back and play at home, we should look different than we looked versus UTSA, in a growth and maturity in how we're playing."
There’s also plenty of Baylor-Hawaii crossover surrounding the trip. Hawaii recently added Joshua Walker, who spent four years on Baylor’s staff before being hired in June to lead his alma mater. Head coach Ryan McGuyre pointed to that connection, along with several others, when talking about the trip.
"I'm really excited to go out there," McGuyre said. "It's a great atmosphere.
We clearly have a lot of Hawaii ties. My wife played there.
Coach [Joshua] Walker, obviously, played there and got a chance to go back there. I've taken Baylor teams there in the past and created some good memories there."
Baylor will also be chasing something it hasn’t found yet on O'ahu: a win. The Bears have dropped all six of their previous chances there.
The final match of the weekend against Georgia Southern will be the first meeting between the programs.
Sunday morning’s match against Hawaii will be streamed on Mountain West Network+. The other two matches won’t be streamed, but live stats will be available at BaylorBears.com/Stats.
Season and single-match tickets for the 2026 season are on sale now through BaylorBears.com/tickets or by calling the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office at 254-710-1000.
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