Associated Press

CU's Mallori Gibson (77) deflects a shot from Baylor's Anna Breyfogle in Wednesday night's match, won by Baylor.

Ten-4.

The Baylor Bears took a timeout trailing the CU volleyball team by as much in game five Wednesday night and got across loud and clear the winning message they needed to beat the Buffaloes for the first time in their last 14 tries.

Baylor stormed back to tie the game at 11, then fought off a pair of match points before escaping the Coors Events Center with a 30-26, 30-32, 27-30, 30-26, 16-14 victory.

The Bears' win was the first against CU since Oct. 4, 2000.

The loss was a disheartening one for an inexperienced Buffs squad that has suffered four of its five defeats this season in five games.

"We were up (six) and that's pretty ridiculous that we went out with a loss at that time," CU right side Alex Buth said of Wednesday's fifth game. "We just didn't finish. It's getting tough but we just need to figure out a way to win those five-game matches."

A 10-4 lead in a short fifth game is usually insurmountable with rally scoring. But Katie Sanders led Baylor with four kills down the stretch as Baylor (8-5, 1-2 Big 12) picked up its first conference victory of the season.

"It was pretty crazy," Baylor middle blocker Anna Breyfogle said. "I think we just decided in our heads that, 'Hey, we need to get this going.' And we just came through."

It was Breyfogle who led the Baylor block party that made kills tough to come by for CU's heavy hitters. The Bears sophomore had 13 assist blocks as Baylor finished with 23 total team blocks. Taylor Barnes and Amanda Modglin had eight assist blocks apiece. Haley Thomas had two solo blocks and seven assists and Sanders added six assists.

The combination contributed to CU hitting .186 for the match. Mallori Gibson led the Buffs with 20 kills but hit just .100, while Emilee Sisco added 16 kills on .216 hitting. Buth hit .118 for 13 kills and had 13 digs.

The Buffs (5-5, 0-2), who have been without last year's leading hitter Amber Sutherland all season, were also missing starting middle blocker Lauren Schaefer Wednesday due to an ankle injury suffered last week.

"We are doing enough to win matches," CU coach Pi'i Aiu said. "We are just doing enough bad things to give it back.

"There's too many swings we're taking right at the block when it's well formed right in front of us. Part of that is maturity and learning, and part of that is we've got to coach them into it."

Baylor notched eight team blocks in storming out to a game 1 victory. But the Buffs scraped their way back in game 2, fending off three game points before evening things 1-1. Freshman Schylur Edelman, who finished with 10 kills on .364 hitting, gave the Buffs a boost in game 3 as they took the lead. But Baylor jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in game four and held on to set up the dramatic fifth.

With CU leading 14-13 in game 5, Thomas rejected Sisco twice in a row to give Baylor the lead, and Ashlie Christenson finished off the win.

Sanders led the Bears with 18 kills, and Breyfogle and Thomas had 13 apiece.

"We work a lot on the endgame and finishing the game," Gibson said. "We knew that's all we had to do and I think we were just mentally not in it. That's happened to us a lot this year, and it's just returning that sense of urgency to finish for the win."