Baylor Whips Briarcrest For Championship Berth

Lady Red Raiders Get A Rematch With Lipscomb For D-II-AA State Title

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Baylor volleyball team will get a big rematch here at the state tournament being played at Middle Tennessee Christian School.

The Lady Red Raiders lost a tough five-set match to Lipscomb Academy in the first match in the Division II-AA tournament on Tuesday, but showed a whole lot of heart later in the day by eliminating Father Ryan.

They advanced to Thursday's championship final against those same Mustangs after they beat Briarcrest in the winners bracket match Wednesday morning.

Briarcrest has been a thorn in Baylor's side for what seems like forever, but the Red Raiders took care of business against the Lady Saints, despite losing the first set by a 25-18 score.

Refusing to be denied and trying to make up for lost time, Baylor came storming back to win the next three sets and the match by scores of 25-15, 25-11 and 25-21.

Baylor coach Sarah Lail is always proud of the way her girls play and she was extra proud and extremely happy after ending the season for Briarcrest.

"These girls played so well today, despite making a bunch of unforced errors in the first set," Lail said later as she and her team were preparing to go eat dinner.

"I think we were just super-pumped, but just needed to settle in.  Once we did that, everything was fine as we just had to minimize our mistakes.  I'm really glad that we get a rematch with Lipscomb as we're fully capable of beating them.

"But to beat Briarcrest like we did was one of the most amazing matches I've ever seen us play.  This is right where we want to be.  We really jumped on Briarcrest in those second and third sets and they were a bit demoralized at that point.  I'm not sure we've ever held them to 11 points, but we came out on fire after that first set and I'm just hoping that we can do the same thing tomorrow.

"We're getting ready to go eat and we'll come back and do a little homework before getting a good night of sleep with plans to be ready on Thursday morning," she added.

Baylor, improving to 28-5 with Wednesday's big win, got another great performance from Sydney Sharpe, who had a triple-double that included 29 assists, 12 digs and 10 kills.  She also had three aces and a block for good measure.

Addi Kegerreis had another strong match with 15 kills while Emma Mulvaney had 13 kills.  Rory Oleksik and Jessy Blevins had 17 and 14 digs, respectively, while Brenna Bagley had 11.  Kaiulani Sherrow was tops with four blocks.

While Baylor and Lipscomb play the first championship match at 11 local time, BGA and Northpoint Christian play for the D-II, Class A title around 2.

BAYLOR STATS:

Brenna Bagley – 1 ace, 2 kills, 11 digs, 7 assists

Jessy Blevins – 14 digs, 1 assist

Addi Kegerreis – 1 block, 1 dig, 15 kills

Nina Lail – 2 aces, 2 assists

Emma Mulvaney –2 aces, 1 block, 6 digs, 1 assist, 13 kills

Rory Oleksik – 17 digs, 2 assists

Bailey Shahan – 8 kills, 1 block

Sydney Sharpe – 3 aces, 1 block, 12 digs, 29 assists, 10 kills

Kaiulani Sherrow – 4 blocks, 7 kills.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
https://www.chattanoogan.com/2024/10/23/494453/Baylor-Whips-Briarcrest-For.aspx
#WeAreBaylor