Lady Raiders Now 23-5 Following 3-1 Win Over Bruisers 

It can be hard at times to describe the atmosphere when GPS and Baylor meet in an athletic event.  Some are best friends, next-door neighbors and even sisters, but when these two proud schools meet in a sporting event, it turns into an event comparable to a state championship where friends, fans and students from both schools gather to cheer on their team.

Baylor had defeated the Bruisers in a gut-wrenching five set match earlier in the season, so it was GPS who served as host Tuesday night.  The bleachers were packed an hour before the varsity match began while fans were standing 8 and 10 deep around the rest of the gym as these two teams did battle.

It wasn't as close as the first one and it didn't go five sets, but Baylor seems to still have the upper hand as they improved to 23-5 overall and a perfect 6-0 in region play following the 3-1 victory, the Lady Red Raiders winning by scores of 25-20, 26-24, 16-25 and 25-20.

The Bruisers end their regular season at 17-7 overall and 5-3 in league play.

Baylor coach Sarah Lail has experienced more than her share of Baylor-GPS volleyball matches, so she knows pretty much what to expect.  She knows that they bring out the best in each other and the team who usually makes the fewest mistakes normally wins.

Perhaps the only weak spot for Baylor on Tuesday was its serving.  After having 20 service errors in the earlier match, they had 19 in this latest match, but Lail isn't bothered a whole lot by those facts.

"That was just unbelievable," Lail said as a host of Baylor fans celebrated with their team just in front of the Baylor bench after final point had been scored.

"GPS has a really good team this year and Cat Nygaard is just a beast on the back row, but we just had to stay aggressive.  It's all high risk and high rewards with our serves, but I felt like our offense was balanced and everyone had a big part in this win.

"The adrenalin was unbelievable on both sides, but our girls were just super resilient tonight.  Even after we lost the third set, we never pressed as our attitude was just one point at a time.  But I must give a shout out to our fans as they offer wonderful support and always have.  We are Baylor and our fans are the best around," Lail added with a smile.

GPS coach Sam Haimann knows that his team is super close, but for the second straight match with their arch-rivals, they came up a little bit short.

"This isn't just one-horse race.  A bounce here or a bounce there may have changed things, but it was a serve and pass battle.  Solid ball control is what it takes.  We tip our caps to Baylor as they have a really good team and never go away.

"We had our moments tonight, but there are just times when the other team plays a little better.  Now we'll turn our focus on the post season with hopes of doing well there," he nodded.

GPS senior Georgia Mae Anderson, who is energy in motion and plays all out on every ball, had the first of her 16 kills to start the match before Baylor battled back for an 11-6 lead following an ace by Brenna Bagley and leading to the first timeout for the Bruisers.

Baylor's biggest lead was 18-10 and never trailed again as a block from Willa Provonsha awarded the first set to Baylor.

The Bruisers had an 8-4 lead in the second set before Lail called a timeout.  Baylor picked up the pace and got three straight kills from Molly Billington, the last one putting the Lady Raiders ahead 15-14.

A kill from Cati Nicola put the Bruisers up 16-15 while another kill from Addi Smith put GPS ahead 17-16, but a kill from Billington knotted the score before another kill from Provonsha gave Baylor the lead for the last time. 

A block from Anderson knotted the score at 23-23 while another kill from Smith tied it again at 24-24, but a kill from Emma Mulvaney put Baylor ahead and they took a 2-0 lead when the Bruisers hit their next return into the net.

The third set belonged totally to the Bruisers as they broke from a 2-2 tie to gain a 10-4 lead before Baylor called its first timeout.  With Nicola getting three kills down the stretch, GPS slowly pulled ahead before winning their first set by nine points.

An ace from Lail gave Baylor an early lead in the fourth set, but the Bruisers took the lead on a kill from Anderson and two from Sophia O'Keefe.  A Baylor hitting error stretched the GPS lead to 7-2 before a timeout, but that's when Baylor started its comeback and took the lead for the first time at 10-9 following an ace by Rylee Jasper.

Another kill from Anderson got the Bruisers within a point at 14-13, but Baylor wasn't bothered as they scored three of the next four points and the match shortly afterward when a GPS serve sailed into the net.

Mulvaney had her usual outstanding match and finished with 15 kills to lead her team, but she had plenty of help hitting up front as Fergie Hammel, Kenzie Johnson and Billington all had eight kills.  Milyn Hold had 24 assists and 11 digs while Rory Oleksik had 20 digs.

Bagley and Lail were tops with three aces each while Billington was also tops for her team with five blocks.

While Anderson led the Bruisers with her 16 kills, Jenkins had 30 assists and Nygaard 30 digs.  Brynne Ashlynn Goldsmith finished with three blocks.

BAYLOR STATS:

Brenna Bagley – 3 aces, 1 kill, 6 digs

Rylee Jasper – 2 aces

Fergie Hammel – 8 kills

Rory Oleksik – 1 kill, 20 digs

Nina Lail – 3 aces, 8 digs

Kaiulani Sherrow – 3 kills, 20 assists, 1 dig, 2 blocks

Emma Mulvaney – 15 kills, 1 ace, 8 digs, 1 block

Willa Provonsha – 3 kills, 2 blocks

Milyn Hold – 24 assists, 1 ace, 11 digs

Kenzie Johnson – 8 kills, 3 digs, 1 block.

GPS STATS:

Georgia Mae Anderson – 16 kills, 2 blocks, 6 digs

Brynn Ashlynn Goldsmith – 4 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs

Elli Holland – 5 digs, 1 ace

Sophia Jenkins – 30 assists, 3 kills, 1 ace, 8 digs

Chapman Mathis – 12 digs

Cati Nicola – 9 kills, 2 digs

 Cat Nygaard – 30 digs, 4 assists

Sophia O'Keefe – 6 kills, 1 block, 1 ace, 4 digs

Addi Smith – 4 kills, 2 blocks, 2 digs.

Baylor Volleyball Tops GPS Again - Chattanoogan.com

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