Daily Bears Report 10/20

Today’s Events

• Women's Tennis, UTSA/ITA Texas Regional Championships, 9:00 AM
• Men's Tennis, vs Harlingen Futures, All Day

Tennis

• Baylor will host the UTSA/ITA Texas Regional Championship beginning today at the Hurd Tennis Center. From BearsExtra.

Play begins Thursday morning with the opening round of doubles followed by two rounds of singles competition. Play goes through Monday.

Baylor will host 17 colleges from across the state, with 114 singles and 52 doubles entries playing to qualify for the UTSA/ITA National Intercollegiate Championship on Nov. 3-6, in New York.

Baylor senior Blair Shankle is seeded No. 2 in singles and seeded No. 5 in doubles with Elizabeth Profit.

• More from Baylor Bears dot com.

The Bears welcome competitors from 17 institutions across the state, including Abilene Christian, Lamar, Rice, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, SMU, Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, TCU, Texas, Texas State, Texas Tech, Incarnate Word, North Texas, UT-Arlington, and UT-San Antonio.

"We are excited for Baylor to host such a big tennis event in Waco this weekend," Baylor head coach Joey Scrivano said. "Events like this bring in a lot of business to our community. It presents a good opportunity for our players to continue to develop and improve, while gaging where we stand against the top teams in the state."

A total of 114 singles and 52 doubles entries will battle for qualification rights to the upcoming ITA National Intercollegiate Championship, Nov. 3-6, in New York. Competing for the Bears are seniorsBlair Shankle and Rhiann Newborn, juniors Theresa Van Zyl and Vanessa Phan, sophomoresKarina Traxler and Elizabeth Profit, and freshman Jessica Hinojosa.

Shankle, fresh off of a strong singles showing at the Oracle/ITA Masters event where she posted a 3-1 mark, is seeded No. 2 in the tournament. The 54th-ranked senior is also seeded in doubles at No. 5 with Profit, who recently won the first singles and doubles tournament titles of her collegiate career at Baylor's Under Armour/HEB Kickoff, Oct. 7-9.

Volleyball

• Baylor volleyball (17-6, 5-2 Big 12) dominated the final two frames, clinching a five-set road win over the Iowa State Cyclones (10-9, 2-5 Big 12), 19-25, 25-19, 26-28, 25-15, 15-6, on Wednesday evening at Hilton Coliseum. From KXXV News Channel 25.

The win for BU was the team’s fifth conference win, matching last season’s year-end Big 12 win total. The Bears also notched the first victory for the program in Ames since Oct. 29, 2005.

In the first frame, the Bears started strong, but the Cyclones caught fire late, finishing the set with a .368 hitting mark to take the first, 25-19.

In the second, the Bears rebounded to hold the Cyclones to a .061 hitting mark, using 12 kills in the set to take the frame, 25-19.

In the third set, the Bears took a late run, leading 24-20 to set up the set point. A 4-0 run by the Cyclones held off the BU push, with the Cyclones closing out the set on a 3-0 run, denying six set points for the Bears to take the third, 28-26.

In the crucial fourth, it was all Baylor, with BU holding the Cyclones to just a -.024 hitting mark, taking the big 25-15 set win.

Headed to the fifth set, BU came out firing, picking up the early 3-0 lead off of back-to-back aces from Aniah Philo.

After having its lead cut to two at 8-6, the Bears closed out the set and match on a 7-0 run, with two blocks from Camryn Freiberg and Philo, two kills from Katie Staiger, a kill from Freiberg, and closing the match on an ace from Staiger.

“God is good. Deeply proud of our resiliency. Multiple times things didn’t go our way and we fought back. We weren’t in rhythm in the first set so we had to fight in the second to find it. Lost a disappointing third to go down 2-1 on the road. Nothing came easy until the fifth. Our blocking showed up and our defense carried us through at the end.” –Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre.

Basketball

Fresh Faces - Calveion Landrum

Acrobatics and Tumbling

• Baylor acrobatics and tumbling released its 2017 schedule on Wednesday, marking its seventh year competing in the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA) and third under head coach Felecia Mulkey. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The slate features seven regular season events, including three at home.

The reigning back-to-back national champion Bears open the season on Feb. 12 at home vs. Quinnipiac. BU then hits the road for events at Oregon on Feb. 25, Glenville State on March 7 and Fairmont State on March 8. Returning home, the Bears host Gannon on March 26 and Oregon on April 2 before finishing the regular season at Azusa Pacific on April 11.

The NCATA National Championships will be hosted by Azusa Pacific from April 27-29 in Azusa, California.

The Bears return 28 letterwinners and welcome 12 newcomers for the 2017 campaign.

Football

• Baylor football senior cornerback Ryan Reid was named the Jim Thorpe Player of the Week, Phil Steele and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame announced Wednesday. From Baylor Bears dot com.

Reid had two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown to help Baylor defeat Kansas 49-7, Saturday in Waco.

In the first quarter, Reid picked off KU QB Ryan Willis and returned it 64 yards for a score to give BU a 14-0 lead. In the second quarter, the senior repeated the feat and brought that interception back 52 yards to set up the Bear offense at the KU 19.

The 116 INT return yards are the most by any FBS player in a single game in 2016 and were just 14 yards shy of the school single-game record of 130 by Charles McClanahan at Missouri in 1974.

Reid was part of a BU defense that had four turnovers on the day and set a school record for combined interception return yards (170), which broke the school record of 160 vs. Rice in 1956. He also helped BU limit KU to 217 yards of total offense and only 134 passing yards.

The Dallas, product set a new career-high with the two INTs and upped his career total to five with his first return TD.

The Jim Thorpe Player of the Week is chosen by Phil Steele each week and is part of the year-long search for the Jim Thorpe Award winner, who is the nation’s top defensive back and will be announced on Dec. 8.

On Monday, Reid won his first career Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honor. He joins NB Travon Blanchard (Sept. 28) as Bears who have been named the Jim Thorpe Player of the Week in 2016.

Slow Motion Highlights of Baylor v. Kansas

Title IX

• The US Department of Education has opened a formal investigation into Baylor University’s compliance with Title IX. From the Wall Street Journal.

The investigation marks a shift for the Education Department, which previously indicated it was comfortable with Baylor’s internal attempts to handle the scandal.

The investigation was prompted by a Sept. 26 complaint from Patty Crawford , Baylor’s former Title IX coordinator. She said in her complaint with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights that she was retaliated against by the school’s leadership for trying to do her job, said her lawyer, Rogge Dunn of Dallas. She resigned earlier this month.