K-State setter Sarah Dixon turned in her team-leading 11th double-double and middle blocker Macy Flowers posted a match-high nine blocks, but the Wildcats fell in four sets at No. 19 Baylor, 14-25, 25-20, 16-25, 19-25, Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center. That’s according to a release from K-State Athletics.
Baylor (22-5, 12-2 Big 12) entered the night having won each of its last five matches in straight sets and ran its sets-won streak to 16 – one shy of a program record – after its Set 1 win before K-State (9-18, 2-12 Big 12) ended the run with a 25-20 second-set victory. BU sweeps the season series for the first time since 2010.
Dixon, a redshirt sophomore, handed out a team-high 23 assists to go with 11 digs. Outside hitters Brynn Carlson and Kylee Zumach paced the Wildcat offense with eight kills each while middle blockers Macy Flowers and Peyton Williams both had seven.
Hooper, playing in her first Big 12 match, came off the bench and tallied a career-high four kills on four swings in the final set while picking up two blocks.
Flowers led the defense with nine blocks while Carlson posted four, helping the Cats to a 10.5-7.0 edge in total team blocks as they tallied multiple blocks in each set. Libero Reilly Killeen led K-State with 14 digs, her 12th consecutive match in double figures.
The Bears were spearheaded by freshman outside hitter Yossiana Pressley and her match-high 24 kills hit at a .347 clip (7 errors, 49 total attacks). Pressley added 10 digs while teammate Hannah Lockin ended the night with 36 assists and 16 digs.
K-State’s longest scoring run in the first set was a three-point stretch where it took its first lead at 7-6. Baylor retook the lead by scoring six of the next seven points before closing the opening set on a 7-1 stretch. Flowers (3) and Elle Sandbothe (2) were the only Wildcats to register multiple kills in a set in which they hit -.125 (7 kills, 11 errors). Pressley led the Bears’ charge, picking up seven of her team’s 12 kills in the frame.
The Wildcats handed the Bears their first set loss in six matches in the second set. K-State had a lead as large as six at 13-7 before Baylor eventually tied the game at 17, courtesy of a five-point spurt. Following a timeout, the Cats rode their own 5-0 run to a 25-20 victory. Zumach and Carlson each had five kills in Set 2 to help K-State to a 15-12 edge in total kills. The Cats hit .286 while holding BU to .108 behind three team blocks.
Baylor’s 12-2 run, including six straight, midway through the third set opened an 11-point advantage for the Bears, a lead that proved insurmountable for the Cats. K-State hit .094 (8k-5e-32ta) in a set in which its only lead was after scoring the game’s first two points. Peyton Williams registered three kills while Carlson added two in the frame.
The Bears continued their momentum into the final set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead and extending that lead to eight points at 18-10 following a 10-3 spurt. K-State cut that lead to four (22-18) after Hooper’s fourth kill, however, that is as close as the Cats came in the final set in which they never led. Hooper recorded all four of her kills in Set 4. Pressley added eight kills in the set as BU had 19 in the set while hitting .350.
Baylor held 59-42 edge in total kills and a 67-53 advantage in team digs.
K-State will finish its conference schedule with back-to-back home matches, beginning with Oklahoma (7-19, 4-9 Big 12) visiting Ahearn Field House on Saturday for a7 p.m., first serve.