Baylor
Texas Tech
Volleyball Drops Heartbreaker to Texas Tech
10/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 17, 2001
WACO, Texas - For just the third time in the past three seasons, Baylor's women's volleyball team hit .250 or better and failed to win the match here Wednesday as the Bears dropped a two-hour, 41-minute marathon five-game match to Texas Tech. All five games were decided by two points with four of the five games going past the 30-point plateau. In the end, the Red Raiders walked away with a 34-32, 31-29, 29-31, 28-30, 19-17 triumph.
With the loss, Baylor falls to 11-6 overall and 3-6 in Big 12 Conference play. Tech improves to 12-6 and 5-4 after posting its first win at the Ferrell Center since 1998.
The loss overshadowed a career night by senior middle blocker Carol Selman, who has been sidelined nearly the entire season due to a back injury and has practiced only sparingly over the past two weeks. The Pflugerville, Texas, native had 11 errorless kills in 15 swings to post a .733 attacking percentage. Her previous high for kills in a match was seven at Texas Tech as a freshman in 1998. Two years ago at home against Tech, Selman posted a career-high eight blocks, Wednesday she had four.
"I'm just happy to get out there any chance I get," Selman said. "With my injuries, I don't get to play very much, and after this season I won't be able to play at all."
Selman led a middle-blocker charge for Baylor that kept the Bears on the brink of victory all night. Senior Sunny Nicholas pounded 13 kills with only one error in 40 swings (.300) to go along with 10 digs and a career-high tying eight blocks. Sophomore Tisha Schwartz hit .381 (10-2-21) with three blocks.
But in the end, it was a stingy Texas Tech defense that proved to be the difference in the match. The Raiders dominated the Bears in the digs column throughout the night, finishing the match with 95 to Baylor's 78. Freshman defensive specialist Jessy Herrera led the Raider defense with a match-high 24 digs. Ann Romjue (18) and Melissa McGehee (16) also topped the 15-dig plateau.
In the first game, both teams struggled offensively, Tech hit .211 in the opener, while Baylor hit just .169. Still, the Bears had their chances to win the game. Trailing 29-24, Baylor scored six straight points to take a 30-24 lead. However, a McGehee kill tied the score at 30-30. After a Sunny Nicholas kill, a Romjue kill allowed Tech to spoil another Baylor game point. Baylor held its ground when Tech served at 32-31, but the Raiders scored the next two points to take the game.
Baylor attacked much better in the second game, committing just five attacking errors and swinging at a .275 clip. Tech, on the other had, dipped to .194 in the second game. However, the difference was at the service line, where Baylor made eight errors as opposed to Tech's two, and in the digs department, where the Raiders had 18 to the Bears' nine. On the night, Baylor had 20 service errors, a season high.
But Baylor turned things around in games three and four, largely in part to the play of Selman, who hit .800 (4-0-5) in game three and 1.000 (3-0-3) in game four. While Baylor led down the stretch in both games, the Raiders never trailed by more than four points at any time during the match.
The deciding fifth game was a classic, reminiscent of the Raiders' 20-18 victory in the fourth game of their five-game win over Baylor in Lubbock last season. Both teams hit over .300 - Baylor .303 (12-2-33), Texas Tech .333 (14-3-33).
Trailing 14-12, the Bears used a Stevie Nicholas kill and a Tech attacking error to even the score. Stevie Nicholas then landed an ace to give Baylor match point, but after the Raiders spent their final time out, Stevie Nicholas served into the net to tie the score at 16-16. Baylor had another serve for match point at 17-16, but a McGehee kill started a three-point TTU run that gave the Raiders the victory.
McGehee finished with a match-high 29 kills, but hit only .230 on the evening. Heather Hughes Justice added 23 kills, but hit just .211. Baylor's top gun, Stevie Nicholas, was much the same, collecting 26 kills but hitting .197. Laura Daniela Lloreda led the Bears with 17 digs and added 14 kills, but hit just .143.
In a match that featured the Big 12's top two assists per game averages, Baylor's Dana Chuha and Tech's Skydra Orzen did not disappoint. Both finished with 71 assists on the night.
The Bears finished the night with a team attacking percentage of .256, well above their Big 12 average of .200. Meanwhile, Baylor held Texas Tech to a .239 attacking percentage. Since the beginning of the 1999 season, Baylor is now 40-3 when attacking at a rate of .250 or better. It also marked just the fifth time since the beginning of the 1998 season that the Bears have attacked at a higher rate than their opponent and lost, a span of 68 such matches.
Baylor will return to action Saturday, traveling to Lawrence, Kan., for a 7 p.m. match with the Kansas Jayhawks. This will be the final match for Baylor in its first time through the Big 12 rotation. The Bears and the Jayhawks split last season's series with Baylor winning in five games at home and Kansas winning in three games in Lawrence.
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