Daily Bears Report 4/1/2017 - Mississippi State Resets UConn Win Streak to Zero

Today’s Events

• Baseball, at Washington, 4:00 PM, Listen
• Softball, vs Texas Tech, 1:05 PM, Watch, Listen
• Women's Soccer, vs Texas State, 1:30 PM
• Women's Soccer, vs Alumni Game, 7:00 PM
• Women's Volleyball, vs SMU (Spring), 10:30 AM
• Women's Golf, vs Bryan National Collegiate, All Day
• Track, vs Texas Relays, All Day
• Men's Golf, vs Aggie Invitational, All Day

Volleyball

• Baylor and SMU will play a Spring Exibition game this morning at 10:30 am inside the Baylor Student Life Center. According to Jonathon Hill, Baylor Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, “this will be a unique opportunity to take the game even further on campus to the students.”

Baylor won its first spring meet vs. North Texas on March 28, 4-1. BU won 3-0 and the teams played two bonus sets, splitting 1-1.

To finish the 2016 season, Baylor earned its first NCAA bid since 2011 and the fifth time in program history.

The Bears will return nearly the entire squad from 2016, with only two seniors graduating. BU also has a stout class of high school All-Americans coming in, including setter Hannah Lockin, who is an early enrollee.

Three key injuries from 2016 will rejoin the Bears for 2017, including fifth-year senior middle Tola Itiola, All-Big 12 and All-Freshman redshirt sophomore Shelly Fanning, and redshirt middle Jaelyn Jackson.

Soccer

Baylor Soccer finishes its spring exhibition play with home matches against Texas State today at 1:30 p.m. and SMU at 1 p.m. on April 22. The Texas State match will also be followed by a 7 p.m. home game today vs. BU alumni.

The alumni list is: Selby Polley (2010-13); Hanna Gilmore (2009-12); Katie Daigle (2012-15); Karlee Summey (2010-13); Carolyn Lynch (2005-08); Georgia Mullins (2010); Hadley Young (2012-15); Natalie Woodham (2009-10); Megan Sherrell (2004-07); Courtney Seelhorst (2008-11); Alex Klein (2010-13); Lisa Sliwinski (2009-12); Lori Viaggiano Jones (2001-04); Dana Larsen (2009-12) NSCAA All-American, NSCAA All-Region, All-Big 12; Natalie Huggins (2011-14); Michelle Kloss (2010-14); Kat Ludlow (2010-13) NSCAA All-Region, All-Big 12; Victoria Hoffman (2010-13); Michelle Hagen (2009-11-12); Ginny Rosario Hall (2001-04); Taylor Heatherly (2010-13); Ashley York (2013-16); Lindsay Burns (2013-16) NSCAA All-Region, All-Big 12; Emory Cason (2013-16); Bridget Hamway (2013-16); and, Larissa Campos (2009, 2011-13).

Women’s Tennis

• The No. 15 Baylor women’s tennis team (14-5) secured a 4-0 victory over Iowa State (15-5) on Friday afternoon. From Baylor Bears dot com.

With the win, the Lady Bears move to 2-2 in Big 12 Conference action.

The Lady Bears took the doubles point when senior Blair Shankle and sophomore Karina Traxler defeated Samantha Budai and Maty Cancini, 6-1, at the No. 1 doubles spot. Sophomore Elizabeth Profit and junior Theresa Van Zyl clinched the point for Baylor with a 6-2 triumph over Annabella Bonadonna and Margarita Timakova at No. 2 doubles.

Baylor held the momentum going into singles play as No. 4 Shankle defeated Samantha Budai at the No. 1 position, 6-3, 6-0. Senior Rhiann Newborn added to Baylor’s lead with a win over Regina Espindola, 6-1, 6-3, at the No. 3 spot.

With the opportunity to end the match in shutout fashion, Van Zyl notched the winning point over Erin Freeman in dominant fashion, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 4 position. Van Zyl has clinched a team-high eight matches this season.

“We learned a lot from our last match and we’re back to being focused on doing our job and not the result. We made good strides in doubles and in our match management in singles. It always starts with a perspective and mindset change.” – Head coach Joey Scrivano.

The Lady Bears continue their road stretch with a dual match at West Virginia on Sunday, April 2. First serve is set for 9 a.m. (CT) in Morgantown, W.Va.

Softball

Baylor Softball: Highlights vs Texas Tec

No. 13 SB Sweeps Doubleheader, Clinches Series Win - Baylor Official Athletic Site, No. 13/14 Baylor softball (31-6, 4-1 Big 12) clinched its fifth-straight Big 12 series win, sweeping a doubleheader with Texas Tech on Friday evening at Getterman Stadium. The Lady Bears took a 5-1 win in game one and pulled away late to a 6-3 win in game two.

Basketball

• MBB's 'Body of Work' Puts Bears Among Best - Baylor Official Athletic Site, Considering that half of last years Final Four didnt even make it back to the field at all, the Baylor mens basketball teams run of four straight NCAA Tournament berths is even more impressive.
• Lady Bears Have Pieces in Place for Another Run - Baylor Official Athletic Site, No one takes losses any harder than Baylors 17th-year head coach. I beat myself up for many days afterward, she said, following the Lady Bears 94-85 overtime loss to Mississippi State in Sundays region final in Oklahoma City.
• College Sports: Which Baylor athletics program is the closest to winning a national championship? | SportsDay, This weekend is the Final Four in both men's and women's basketball. Both Baylor programs reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament but...
• Mississippi State shocks UConn: RECAP, final score, stats | Women's Final Four | NJ.com, The NCAA Women's Tournament held its Final Four on Friday, March 31, 2017 (3/31/2017) as the Stanford Cardinal (32-5) met the South Carolina Gamecocks (31-4), and the Mississippi State Bulldogs (33-4) met the Connecticut Huskies (36-0) for the right to play in the national championship.

Men’s Golf

• No. 4-ranked Baylor men’s golf is headed to Bryan, Texas, to play in the 11th Aggie Invitational, which runs Saturday and Sunday at Traditions Golf Club. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The Bears are No. 4 in the latest GolfStat rankings, the highest in program history. BU is among 10 top-50 ranked squads in the 13-team field, including seven of the nation’s top 20 teams. Baylor competes against No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Kent State, No. 8 LSU, No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 18 Texas, No. 25 Arkansas, No. 29 North Carolina, No. 46 Michigan, New Mexico State, North Texas and UTSA.

Baylor’s lineup features sophomore Braden Bailey, senior Hunter Shattuck, junior Matthew Perrine, freshman Cooper Dossey and sophomore Garrett May. The Bears are paired with golfers from LSU and UTSA and will begin Saturday’s first round from the 10th tee at 8 a.m. CT. May is up first, and he’ll be followed in 10-minute intervals by Dossey, Perrine, Shattuck and Bailey, respectively.

Teams will continue play for a second round on Saturday, and Sunday’s final round is scheduled for tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. from the first and 10th tees.

Men’s Tennis

• The fourth-ranked Baylor men's tennis team will visit Tulsa for its last non-conference match of the 2017 regular season. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The match is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The Bears (18-3) are currently riding a five-match winning streak with four of the five coming over top-40 opponents, including No. 38 SMU, No. 9 California and No. 5 USC at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge, and No. 34 Memphis last Sunday at the Hurd Tennis Center.

Tulsa is 10-12 this season, and 9-2 at home with their only losses coming to No. 10 UCLA and No. 46 Arkansas.

Track & Field

• Baylor track and field senior Maggie Montoya highlighted a group of five runners competing at the Stanford Invitational Friday at Cobb Track. From Baylor Bears dot com.

Montoya produced the third-best 5,000-meter time in school history of 15:55.62 to finish 11th in section one of the event.

Baylor athletes will return to the Texas Relays on Saturday with field events beginning at noon and running events starting at 10:40 a.m.

• For a second straight day, the Baylor track and field team had another school record fall at the 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays presented by Spectrum at Mike A. Myers Stadium Friday. Full story at: Baylor Bears dot com.

Senior Felix Obi bettered his own BU record in the triple jump with a leap of 54-8.25 [16.67m], which was first among collegiates and second overall at the meet. The El Paso, Texas, product's school best comes just a day after Jenna Pfeiffer established a new BU record in the heptathlon.

Following a foul on his first attempt, Obi produced his best attempt of the day on his next jump. He eclipsed his old school record of 53-9.75 [16.40m] by nearly 11 inches, while notching the world's seventh-best and the NCAA's No. 1 triple jump in 2017.

Baseball

• No. 21/22 Baylor baseball suffered a tough and dramatic 5-4 loss to Washington in the series opener on Friday night at Husky Ballpark. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The Bears (18-8) overcame a two-run ninth-inning deficit only to see the Huskies (15-9) win on a walk-off single.

Baylor finishes its series vs. Washington with games at 4 p.m. CT Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.

Football

Recruiting Analysis: College Station ATH Marquez Perez - TexasHSFootball, Before the 2016 Texas high school football season, Marquez Perez of College Station was a relative unknown. His open-field running ability mixed with his sure set of hands has given Perez an opportunity to join Matt Rhule and the Baylor Bears in receiving ranks. With the early inkling of recruits who play in pass heavy offenses set to come to Waco, this could be a telling sign of where Perez could potentially land On top of that, former College Station Cougar Timarcus Davis is set to join the Bears this offseason, Baylor might ultimately pose the highest upside for successful college years for the Cougars’ star.