Wildcats Claim Five-Set Thriller Against NCAA Opponent Southwest Baptist

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Baker volleyball captured the final two sets of its match against Southwest Baptist to knock off the NCAA Division II team in an exciting five-set showdown on Tuesday night in Baldwin City, Kan.

After seeing its comeback bid fall short in the third set, the Wildcats regrouped and used that momentum to win the fourth and force the decisive fifth set which BU took by a comfortable margin to earn its fourth victory of the season.

"We started off a little slow in this one, but credit to the team for being able to battle back," said head coach Nils Nielsen. "We had a whole game plan coming into the match that sort of got thrown out once we got on the floor, so the team did a great job of staying steady as we figured things out. We did really well all-around and had every phase of the game going at certain points."

SBU got off to a nice start in the opening set, leading by as much as nine points in the frame to take an early 1-0 lead. The Bearcats recorded three aces and received a boost from their outside hitter Gabby Belcher who had five kills in the set.

The Wildcats got on track in the second set with back-to-back kills from Kennedy Bryan and Kylie Murray setting the tone, while Olivia Deichmann added a couple of strong attacks to give Baker a 10-7 lead midway through the set. BU stretched its lead out to an eight-point margin after an emphatic block from Bryan before tallying the final four points of the set to even the match at 1-1.

In the third set, Baker would find itself down by as much as eight points, but used a 9-3 run to spark a rally and cut the deficit to just two points. The Wildcats eventually climbed all the way back and took the lead on a kill by Meredith Brown before SBU scored four of the last five points to win the third, 27-25.

The two sides kept things close early in the fourth set with the Wildcats finally able to create some cushion after Brown notched consecutive kills and Delany Franklin placed an ace to make it a 13-5 advantage for BU. The Bearcats worked their way back to cut the Wildcats' lead to three points, but Adelyn Bybee connected on a couple of attacks to keep the visitors at bay before firing a laser to capture the frame for Baker, 25-20 and forcing the winner-take-all fifth set.

Aces from Murray and Kierstyn Harmon along with a couple of kills by Bybee pushed Baker out in front early, eventually going up 8-3 in the final frame. The Wildcats stayed in control for the rest of the set before Murray tagged the match point to give Baker a thrilling come-from-behind victory in front of the home crowd.

In an all-around effort, the Wildcats had four players tally exactly nine kills in the match with Deichmann, Brown, Bryan and Bybee all chipping into the BU attack. Murray and Harmon each registered five aces, while Harmon matched with Grace Wood for 21 assists apiece from the BU duo.

Moving to 4-3 on the year, Baker will travel to its final road non-conference match of the season on Thursday, Sept. 7 to face off against Tabor at 7 p.m. in Hillsboro, Kan.

#BakerBuildsChampions