Texas State volleyball (27-5 overall, 15-1 Sun Belt) lost in its third-straight 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) sweep of the season against the No. 6 Baylor University Bears (16-4 overall, 13-3 Sun Belt).
After playing six straight road matches since the start of their season, the Bobcats took their home court for the first time since Nov. 14.
Starting the match, the Bears took headway as they went up 3-0 in the first set. The Bobcats tied the set at 4-4 via attack errors by Baylor along with a kill by middle blocker Tyeranee Scott. Baylor extended its lead to 10-6 off of a 3-0 run featuring kills by graduate middle blocker Preslie Anderson and junior opposite Marieke van der Mark.
The Bears kept their foot on the gas pedal as they went 20-13, finished off with a kill by senior outside hitter Yossiana Pressley. Texas State went on a 6-2 run to come as close as 22-19 but Baylor finished the set 25-20.
In the second set, three Baylor errors gave the Bobcats a 3-0 start. Texas State went ahead by as much as 10-6 off of the fourth kill by junior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald.
Baylor responded with an 11-1 run to go ahead 18-11. During the run, the Bears had three aces while Pressley had two kills and three block assists. The Bobcats came back to cut the deficit to 22-18, but three straight kills by sophomore outside hitter Lauren Harrison won the second set for the Bears 25-18, giving them a 2-0 match lead.
Both teams traded blows in the third set as each team matched the other point for point. The Bobcats even held an 11-10 lead at one point, but the Bears slightly outpaced the Maroon and Gold as they went up 18-17.
With the match nearly in their hands, the Bears scored six of the next seven points to lead 24-18. A kill by Anderson gave Baylor the set 25-19, completing the sweep.
The Bears had four players with double-digit kills: Pressley (14), Van Der Mark (11), Harrison (11) and sophomore middle blocker Kara McGhee (10). Senior setter Hannah Sedwick led the match with 45 assists and junior defensive specialist Shanel Bramschreiber had four aces.
Bramschreiber also led the team with 15 digs followed by Pressley with seven. McGhee had six total blocks while Pressley had four.
For Texas State, Fitzgerald had 11 kills, sophomore outside hitter Caitlan Buettner had seven and Scott and junior middle blocker Jillian Slaughter had six apiece.
Junior setter Emily DeWalt led with 30 assists while Slaughter had the team’s lone ace.
On the defensive end, senior setter Brooke Johnson and sophomore outside hitter Lauren Teske each had seven digs.
Texas State will now go on to have a rematch against the University of Texas at 6 p.m. on March 16 at Strahan Arena. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.