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WACO, Texas -- The Miami University volleyball team battled hard and showed a lot of grit in each set, but ultimately fell 0-3 (19-25, 16-25, 21-25) to No. 12 seed Baylor in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The RedHawks finish the season at 23-9, while the 18th-ranked Bears improve to 24-6.

"We just competed against a really fine team," said head coach Carolyn Condit. "We understand why Yossiana [Pressley] is Big 12] freshman of the year, leading everyone with 17 kills. It was a great experience for us and we need to see that type of play more often to play at the level that we know we can play at if we did. Overall, it was a great match and a great learning experience for us and I liked how we kept digging in and kept going after them."

Senior middle hitter Meredith Stutz and junior right side hitter Stela Kukoc put down early kills, but a pair of Baylor blocks helped it build an 8-3 lead to begin set one. A service ace by freshman setter Morgan Seaman and kills from sophomore middle hitter Margaret Payne and Kukoc kept the RedHawks close at 6-11, but a 4-0 run from the Bears put them in control at 15-6. Senior outside hitter Olivia Rusek put down a pair of kills, but Baylor eventually increased advantage to 10 at 22-12. Trailing 23-13, two straight blocks by the RedHawks, a kill from Stutz and a block by sophomore outside hitter Taylor Daignault were part of a 5-0 run that pulled Miami to within five at 18-23. That would be as close as it would get as the Bears finished off a 25-19 win.

Senior middle hitter Katie Tomasic put down a pair of kills off assists from redshirt junior setter Mackenzie Zielinski, while another service ace from Seaman gave Miami its first lead at 4-3 in set two. The Bears went on a run, but a pair of kills from Daignault pulled the `Hawks to within three at 8-11. Baylor used a 4-1 run to go ahead 15-9. Zielinski put down a kill to start a 4-1 answer that made it 13-16. The Bears then took control with a 5-1 stretch that made it 21-14. Daignault responded with a kill, but BU finished off a 25-16 victory.

Stutz had back-to-back kills, while Daignault had a service ace to jump the RedHawks to a 3-0 lead to begin set three. After the Bears scored, kills from Rusek and Stutz made it 5-1 and forced Baylor to call timeout. After the break BU put down four in a row to tie the score before a solo block by Kukoc gave Miami the advantage once again. Trailing 6-8, two kills from Rusek and a block by Payne and Daignault put the `Hawks on top, 9-8. Baylor answered with a 10-3 run that put it in control at 18-12. The RedHawks did not give up, as kills by Tomasic, Payne and Daignault, along with back-to-back service aces from Kukoc pulled the Red and White to within three at 18-21. After a Miami service error, a kill from Payne and a Baylor attack error made it 20-22. That was as close as the RedHawks could get as the Bears finished off a 25-21 win to take the match in straight sets.

Daignault led Miami with six kills, while Rusek and Stutz had five each. Senior libero Maeve McDonald recorded 16 digs and finished her career with 2,193 digs. The RedHawks outblocked the Bears 7.0-6.0 with Stutz leading the way with three.

The RedHawks senior class of Rusek, Stutz, McDonald, Tomasic, Courtney Bemis, Katie Coverdale and redshirt junior Zielinski finished with an 89-36 record and a 52-12 record in the Mid-American Conference. They won two regular season MAC Championships and a MAC Tournament crown.

"I think that we are so blessed to be a part of the program Miami offers," said Tomasic. "There is so much support for us, in all aspects, whether it be volleyball or otherwise. I think to get opportunities to come together and play schools like Baylor, which are such fine opponents, really bring out the competitor in all of us and I think to do this all with a team that has such spirit can tell you that every single person on this team contributed on the success we had this season because we rely on our balance. We don't have an all-star, we're all contributing to our success this season to get us to this point, and we are really grateful for that."