Breakfast with the Bears

Soccer

Baylor soccer lost a 2-0 decision at No. 4 West Virginia on Friday evening at Dlesk Soccer Stadium. The Bears (8-4-1, 1-1-1) trailed early to the Mountaineers (9-1-1, 1-0-0) and were unable to take advantage of any scoring chances. From Baylor Bears dot com.

WVU got on top of BU quickly with a fourth-minute goal by Michaela Abram. The Bears had a chance to knot things up in the 26th minute, but Sarah King’s shot from the left wing in the box went wide right as she was one-on-one with the keeper. Five minutes later, the Mountaineers made it a 2-0 deficit for the Bears on a goal by Sh’Nia Gordon.

Neither team scored in the second period, but the best chance for BU was a one-on-one chance in the box for Lauren Piercy straight on with the keeper early in the period. Unfortunately, her shot went high as she couldn’t get the ball to fully settle in time.

“First off, credit to West Virginia. They are a great team, definitely deserving of their national ranking. Our first half, we didn’t play as well out of the gun as I would’ve liked to have. We did make some adjustments. It’s tough to be down 1-0 early. But credit to my team and their heart and their fight. They didn’t back down and knew they were in the game until the very end. They never gave up, never quit. We had some better chances in the second period with some adjustments. Would’ve been nice to put one away but that’s the way it goes. I’m proud of this team and the effort they continually give.” – Head Coach Paul Jobson.

Here’s a preview video from Baylor Athletics for that match. It has a really great interview with sophomore forward Lauren Piercy.

Equestrian

No. 5 Baylor equestrian (3-1) finished a clean sweep of the three weekend meets, notching wins over No. 10 New Mexico State and No. 8 Fresno State on Saturday, Oct. 1, to take home the Willis Invitational championship for the ninth-straight season. Baylor Bears dot com has more.

After leading 6-2 at the break on Friday, the Bears split both fences and horsemanship, 2-2, cruising to a 10-6 win over the Aggies to open the day.

On Friday, the Bears notched 3-1 wins in both the flat and reining.

Volleyball

Baylor volleyball (14-5, 2-1 Big 12) had its 10-match winning streak snapped on the road by the No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks (13-2, 2-1 Big 12), 25-22, 19-25, 13-25, 23-25, Saturday afternoon at the Horejsi Center. From Baylor Bears dot com.

Baylor benefitted from several Bears posting season and career highs in the match, but BU couldn’t fight off the explosive KU offense in front of a packed home arena.

In the first set, the two sides trades points through most of the set, with BU carrying an 86% sideout percentage in the frame. With a narrow 22-21 lead, the Bears closed the set on a 3-1 run, with kills from Morgan Reed and Katie Staiger, and a block from Nicole Thomas, Ashley Fritcher, andKatie Staiger.

The Bears took a 17-16 lead in the second frame, seemingly poised to build a lead in the business half of the set. At 17-17, a challenge on a Baylor kill reversed the point, forcing a replay that would swing the advantage back to KU. BU was unable to recover, allowing a 9-2 run from the Jayhawks, tying the match at 1-1.

In the third, the Jayhawks pounded away at the Baylor defense, outhitting the Bears .222 to .000 to take the 2-1 match lead.

In the fourth, the Bears clawed out to a 14-8 lead, looking to tie the match and force the fifth.

The Jayhawks used a 9-3 run to tie the set back at 17-17. The two squads traded points late into the set, with BU clinging to a 23-22 advantage. KU forced an attack error and logged two kills, closing the set and match on a 3-0 run to seal off the Bears’ upset hopes in four sets.

“I thought the sets we were competing, we were holding or own offensively. We didn’t do a good enough job limiting them and slowing the attack. Kansas did a good job of staying in system and attacking the way they wanted. We would slow their attack at times, but not enough.” – Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre.

Cross Country

Senior Maggie Montoya's fourth-place individual finish helped the Baylor women's cross country team take fifth overall at the Notre Dame Invitational Friday at Burke Golf Course. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The Rogers, Ark., product was BU's top runner for her third-straight race and completed the 5,000-meter course in 16:28.4. Newcomer Lindsey Bradley, who was running in her first race of the fall placed 11th with a time of 16:40.5.

Next to cross the finish line for the Bears was Peyton Thomas (22nd, 16:47.9), while Anna West was 38th in 16:59.8. Baylor's final scoring runner was Gabby Satterlee, who 95th in a time of 17:41.3.

The five-runner total score of 169 was just three behind third-ranked New Mexico's 166 point total for fourth and two points ahead of No. 28 Utah's 171 points for sixth.

As a team the Bears were fourth at one mile into the race and tied for third with 1,000 meters to go, but Eastern Michigan closed strong to get into the top three and push Baylor to fifth. However, BU's top-four runner total of 75 was 12 points better than winner and No. 1 ranked team Providence (87).

Meanwhile, the men's team was 19th with Eric Anderson (77th, 24:43.5) and Devin Meyrer (79th, 24:44.7) leading the Bears over the file-mile course. Matt League was next to finish with a time of 25:06.0 to be 118th, while Matt Parham (147th, 25:29.9) and Jordan West (156th, 25:34.4) were the final two scoring runners for BU.

"It was definitely a coming out party for us. We didn't surprise ourselves. It was kind of what we expected, but the girls still had to go out and do it. It wasn't a perfect day, but it was very good overall. Maggie looked super and Lindsey in her first race was really good. Peyton was really strong and Anna was excellent in her first big race with a PR." -- head coach Todd Harbour on the women's team.

"My guys competed really hard. It was one of those meets where if things didn't go perfectly, the level of competition was such that it wass not going to look great on paper at the end. They ran tough, but that was a big time race and we didn't quite get everything put together. The guys went after it and it wasn't for a lack of effort. I am proud of the way they competed and I think it will pay dividends down the road." -- assistant coach Jon Capron on the men's team.

Football

The Iowa State Cyclones scored the first 14 points of the game, Baylor scored the final 17, and in between there was a whole lot of football and the Bears survive Ames with a field goal with no time left on the clock. From Baylor Bears dot com, which also has a pretty nifty slideshow up.

Chris Callahan hit a 19-yard field goal as time expired and No. 13 Baylor rallied from 14 down in the fourth quarter to beat Iowa State 45-42 on Saturday.

Shock Linwood rushed for 237 yards for the Bears, who moved to 2-0 in the Big 12 for the fourth year in a row.

Baylor (5-0, 2-0), playing without star wide receiver KD Cannon because of a groin injury, trailed 42-28 before using scoring drives of 86 and 84 yards to tie it up.

Baylor's defense finally stiffened in the fourth quarter and Seth Russell - who was 12 of 22 passing for 178 yards - drove Baylor 83 yards to set up Callahan's chip shot.

''Credit to Iowa State. They punched us in the mouth several times. We were speaking on the sidelines (saying) `this is still our game. We're still going to fight.' And we did,'' Russell said.

Joel Lanning threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns for Iowa State (1-4, 0-2).

Mike Warren added a season-high 130 yards rushing for the Cyclones, who scored touchdowns on their first six full possessions but were shut out after that.

Football Highlights from Baylor Athletics

Where have all the Cyclones gone?

Baylor Postgame @ Iowa State

Iowa State’s Postgame and Highlights

Highlights from Big XII Digital Network

Sic ‘em Bears!