The Baylor volleyball team played its quickest match of the season at home on Saturday afternoon.
It was also their most important match to date as it was the quarterfinal round of the state tournament.
Taking just 50 minutes, the Lady Red Raiders were impressive indeed as they advanced to the Final Four in Murfreesboro with a quick 3-0 win over St.
Benedict, Baylor winning in a landslide by scores of 25-13, 25-8 and 25-7.
The Lady Eagles came out pumped and ready to play while the Lady Red Raiders were a little bit tense and maybe a tad nervous.
St. Benedict scored the first three points before a tip from Paris Buckner gave Baylor its first point.
It was nip and tuck for the first few minutes as the visitors from Cordova had tied the score at 6-6 when Baylor started clicking.
Three straight service points from Gabby Gray gave Baylor a 9-6 lead and it didn’t take long for the ladies in red to completely take charge.
Five straight service points from Laura Kate May extended Baylor’s lead to 14-8 and the first timeout for the Lady Eagles, but there was nothing to be said to the visiting team that could slow Baylor’s momentum at this point.
A double hit was charged to St. Benedict to give Baylor victory in the first set and it turned out to be the closest one of the day.
Baylor was the far superior team in this match, but the biggest difference in the match came at the service line where the Lady Red Raiders had a season-high 17 aces.
Sarah Sumida, who finished the day with 28 assists, had eight straight points in the second set, including three of her five aces as Baylor worked hard and fast to make this as quick as possible.
Things never got any better for the Lady Eagles.
“I’ll take that,” said Baylor coach Sarah Lail after her team had improved to 43-2 on the season.
“At the beginning, we had a few pre-match nerves and had a few early mistakes, but I thought we settled down and played pretty well after that. Our serving was a key as we had 17 aces today, but we had made a point earlier that we wanted to win the serve and passing game.
“I really liked the way our seniors stepped up today as they have been such a key to our success, but it’s nice to move on to Murfreesboro where we hope to do well next week,” Lail added.
Molly Pickering served as the St. Benedict leader in the absence of their head coach. There wasn’t much she could say when the match was over.
“That was tough,” she said in an understatement.
“Our serve receive certainly left a lot to be desired, but I feel like we could have done a lot better than we did. Trying to find a weak spot against Baylor was hard, but I’m really proud of our younger girls.
“You could tell that some of our seniors were really struggling, but the young ones came in and played better. This was a good learning experience for us and hopefully we can make it back here next year,” Pickering added.
Ally Craig had six aces to lead the Baylor servers while Sumida and Gray had five each.
Jane Wilson played well in her final match at home and finished with seven kills while Buckner and Craig both had six. Lilly Turner had eight digs while Sumida had seven and Gray six.
Baylor’s next match will be at 5 p.m. (CST) at MTSU against Father Ryan.
BAYLOR STATS:
Sarah Sumida – 5 aces, 3 kills, 1 block, 28 assists, 7 digs
Gabby Gray – 5 aces, 6 kills, 6 digs
Ally Craig – 6 aces, 6 kills, 6 digs
Lilly Turner – 2 assists, 8 digs
Jane Wilson – 7 kills, 2 blocks
Paris Buckner – 6 kills, 1 block
Lexie Laurendine – 3 kills, 1 block, 1 assist
Laura Kate May – 1 ace, 1 dig, 1 assist
Kelsey Holden – 2 digs
Sarah Barker – 1 kill
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)