Oct. 24, 2001
Box Score
WACO, Texas - Stevie Nicholas pounded 12 kills with 12 digs and Laura Daniela went for 11 kills and 12 digs as Baylor defeated Iowa State 30-25, 30-27, 30-23 here Wednesday night in women's volleyball action.
With the win, the Bears improve to 14-6 on the season, 5-6 in Big 12 Conference action. The Cyclones, meanwhile, fall to 4-13 and 1-11. It marked Baylor's eighth consecutive victory over Iowa State.
Baylor struggled to find its rhythm on the offensive side of the ball, but the Bears still managed to hit .255 as a team compared to the .144 clip turned in by Iowa State. The Bears are now 66-5 over the past four seasons when attacking at a higher percentage than their opponent.
The Bears enjoyed their best attacking game in the opener, swinging at a .269 percentage. Leading 9-8 in the first game, Baylor put together a six unanswered points and never looked back. Iowa State closed to within three points on five occasions, but the Cyclones could never get any closer.
Games two and three were not as easy for Baylor, which improved to 11-3 all-time against ISU. The Cyclones jumped out to a 10-5 advantage and held the lead for most of the second game. With ISU leading 20-16, though, Baylor put together a four-point run to knot the score. The game stayed within two points either way until BU broke out of a 26-26 tie with three straight points. Iowa State withstood one game point, but a Dana Chuha kill gave the Bears the 30-27 victory.
In game three, both teams traded the lead several times early in the match before the Cyclones built a 16-12 lead midway through the game. From there, Baylor began to chip away at the deficit and tied the score at 19-19. With the score still tied at 21-21, the Bears scored five straight points to take control of the game en route to the 30-23 match-clinching triumph.
Tisha Schwartz came off the bench to give Baylor a third player in double figures for kills, putting 11 on the floor. Schwartz also had three blocks, joining Stevie Nicholas for the team high. Sunny Nicholas and Tatiana Kenon had the hottest swings of the night for the Bears, though. Sunny Nicholas had eight kills and hit .318 for the match, while Kenon's eight kills came with a .318 attacking percentage. Dana Chuha had four errorless kills in 10 swings to go along with a match-high 44 assists.
Mandi Harms, who put away 13 kills, and Brittany Dalager, who tallied 10 kills, led the way for Iowa State. However, Harms' .273 attacking percentage was tops on the ISU roster, and no other Cyclone hit better than .235. Dalager led all players with 15 digs, while Sara Stribe, Steph Suntken and Julie Mitchell had five blocks each.
Baylor will return to play this weekend, hosting Texas for a 6 p.m. match Saturday at the Ferrell Center. UT defeated Baylor 30-28, 30-28, 34-32 five weeks ago in Austin, but the Bears were without Chuha, who missed the match due to a bout with the flu. Baylor will turn around and host Kansas at 5 p.m. Sunday, also at the Ferrell Center.
