MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Senior outside hitter Katelyn Evans collected her 1,000th career kill, but the West Virginia volleyball team suffered a 3-1 setback to No. 1-ranked Baylor on Tuesday evening, inside the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers (11-17, 2-13) fell to the Lady Bears (24-1, 14-1) in set scores of 30-32, 25-23, 25-22 and 25-17.
Tuesday’s match marked the third time this season West Virginia has faced the top-ranked team in the country. The Mountaineers went head-to-head with the Lady Bears at Baylor on
Oct. 26, followed by a match at Texas on Nov. 3.
“I thought we battled hard,” WVU coach Reed Sunahara said. “We have worked hard all year, and I thought the first set was indicative of what we can do as a team. We battled in the second and third, but we had a little bit of a let down in the fourth. Overall, I was happy with our performance. Obviously, we want to win, but I think we are getting closer to where we need to be.”
Evans picked up her 1,000th kill on her 14th of the match and added four more to rank second on the team with 18 swings. Sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Kristina Jordan paved the way for WVU, registering 19 kills to hit .256 on the evening.
“I thought tonight was a good benchmark for her (Katelyn Evans) success here,” Sunahara said. “She’s had a good career. She definitely has had her ups and downs, but she’s playing well right now. She has one more match, and hopefully, she can finish strong.”
In an extended first set, West Virginia recorded 22 kills, including 10 from Evans, to claim the 32-30 first-set victory over Baylor. Trailing 18-11, Evans put down a kill to jump start a 4-0 scoring run in favor of WVU. The Lady Bears called a timeout, but the Mountaineers’ offensive spark continued. Evans placed one through the pins, and freshman defensive specialist Natalie Winter served up an ace to cut WVU’s deficit to two, as BU burned its final timeout of the set.
The Mountaineers came out of the stoppage firing on all cylinders and used another 5-0 scoring streak to take a 22-20 edge late in the frame. The Lady Bears then rattled off three straight points of their own, but kills from Lynch and Jordan put the Mountaineers at set point at 24-23. BU posted a kill to extend the frame on the next ball, serving set point for the first time at 27-26. West Virginia would serve set point three more times before winning the stanza, 32-20, on a kill from Jordan to take the 1-0 match lead.
The second set started similar to the first, with Baylor scoring 7 of 8 points to take a 15-14 lead. The two teams traded points down the stretch, as a kill from Evans kept WVU within one at 22-21. Right-side hitter Erin Slinde and redshirt junior middle blocker Audrey Adams teamed up for the stop on the next ball, tying the set at 22-all, but the Lady Bears captured three of the last four points for the 25-23 second-set win.
With the overall match tied at one set apiece, the Mountaineers couldn’t keep the momentum going in sets three and four, falling by a score of 25-22 and 25-17, respectively.
Looking ahead, the Mountaineers close their regular-season slate with a 1 p.m. tilt against Kansas (8-16, 4-10) on Saturday.
