LEXINGTON (September 14, 2009)--Baylor’s volleyball team cracked the AVCA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll for the first time since the end of the 2001 season, checking in at No. 24 in this week’s ranking as announced Monday by AVCA officials.

The Bears entered last weekend’s Comcast Challenge at the University of New Mexico with a school-record tying eight wins to open the season, then ripped off three more wins and won their third tournament title of the season for a program-record 11 consecutive victories.

Baylor who was receiving six votes in the preseason Top 25 poll, made a big jump last week to 43 points, before entering the rankings at No. 24 with 129 votes this week. The Bears defeated previously 24th-ranked Purdue at home last weekend, then beat a Pittsburgh squad on Friday that was receiving votes.

The ranking also marks the first time since the end of the 1999 season that the Bears were ranked, when they finished the season at No. 20. Earlier in 1999 marked the first time in school history that the Bears cracked the Top 25.

Baylor travels to the University of Texas for a match with the Longhorns set to be televised on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 16. Texas (5-0) is ranked second in the nation in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll.