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BAYLOR
at
IOWA STATE
7 p.m.
Oct. 5, 2001
Hilton Coliseum
Ames, Iowa

BAYLOR
at
MISSOURI
7 p.m.
Oct. 6, 2001
Hearnes Center
Columbia, Mo.

After a five-day layoff, Baylor will return to action this weekend with a pair of road Big 12 Conference matches. First, the Bears will travel to Ames, Iowa, for a 7 p.m. match Friday night at Iowa State. Immediately following the match, Baylor will fly to Columbia, Mo., where the Bears will battle Missouri at 7 p.m. Saturday. Baylor enters the weekend with an 8-4 overall record and an 0-4 mark in conference play. The Bears will be looking to stop a four-match losing streak, their longest since the 1998 season. Iowa State enters the weekend 3-7 on the season and 0-5 in conference play. The Cyclones dropped a 30-21, 31-29, 30-18 decision Wednesday night at Texas Tech. Originially scheduled for Sept. 12, this will be the only match of the weekend for Iowa State. Missouri stands 11-3 on the season and 3-3 in the Big 12 after falling 30-15, 30-24, 35-33 Wednesday night at No. 2 Nebraska. This will also be the only match of the weekend for the Tigers. Live score updates for both matches will be available online. For the Iowa State match, go to www.GoBaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics. Missouri will host live updates for their match with the Bears at www.MUTigers.com.

Head coach Brian Hosfeld
Baylor is in its sixth season under the direction of head coach Brian Hosfeld. During his tenure, the Bears have compiled a 98-81 (.547) overall record and a 40-63 (.388) mark in the rugged Big 12 Conference. In 1999, Hosfeld led the Bears to the greatest season in the program's 24-year history. Baylor posted a 26-9 record and finished fifth in the conference at 13-7. The 1999 Bears matched the school record for wins in a season and shattered the standard for conference wins. The season culminated with the Green and Gold making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. There, Baylor knocked off Temple in the first round before falling to eventual national champion Penn State. Hosfeld holds the highest winning percentage in school history. He stands second all-time at Baylor in total wins and has amassed the most conference wins of any coach in school history.

Hosfeld closing in on milestone victories
Now in his sixth season at the helm of the Baylor volleyball program, Brian Hosfeld is just two wins shy of reaching the 100-victory plateau. He is also four triumphs shy of breaking the school record for coaching victories of 101 (Tom Sonnichsen, 1989-1995). Hosfeld currently holds the highest career winning percentage of any coach in school history at .547 (98-81).

Hosfeld vs. Iowa State
Head coach Brian Hosfeld has a career record of 9-1 against Iowa State. The lone defeat was a four-game decision at home in the 1997 season. Since then, the Hosfeld-coached Bears have won six straight against the Cyclones, losing just one game in that span.

The Iowa State series
Baylor is 9-3 all-time against Iowa State, holding a 9-1 advantage in the series since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996. The teams first met Sept. 20, 1980 in Tulsa, Okla., the Cyclones won that meeting 15-11, 15-13. Five days shy of four years later, ISU claimed a 10-15, 15-7, 15-6, 15-11 victory over the Bears in Waco. The two teams did not meet again until the 1996 season when the Bears took a five-game decision in Waco and a four-game triumph in Ames. The teams split the next year with the visiting team winning each match. Baylor has swept the season series in each of the last three seasons, dropping just one game in that time.

Last time against Iowa State
Baylor wrapped the Big 12 portion of its 2000 schedule by downing the Cyclones 15-13, 15-4, 15-9 in Ames. In that match, the Bears held Iowa State to a .115 team attacking percentage. Stevie Nicholas and Dana Atkinson led Baylor with 12 kills and 10 kills, respectively, each had 11 digs. Dana Chuha hit .556 (5-0-9) and had a pair of blocks, while Kenon had a season-high 14 digs.

Hosfeld vs. Missouri
Head coach Brian Hosfeld has a career record of 6-4 against Missouri. He has coached the Bears in all of the schools' meetings. Hosfeld led the Bears to victories against the Tigers in each of their first four meetings, however, since then, he has posted a 2-4 mark against MU.

The Missouri Series
This will be the 11th meeting between Baylor and Missouri with the Bears holding a 6-4 advantage in the all-time series. All 10 meetings have come since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996. Baylor and Missouri first met Sept. 28, 1996 in Waco, Texas, that was the second-ever Big 12 match for the Bears, and they were victorious 15-4, 15-9, 15-12. Baylor went on to win each of the first four meetings in the series, also taking the second meeting in three games. However, Baylor's success against Missouri came to an end in 1998 when the Bears dropped a four-game decision in Columbia, Mo. Since then, MU holds a 4-2 advantage in the series, including sweeping last season's meetings.

Last time against Missouri
Four different Bears reached double figures in kills, but it was not enough as Baylor fell to then-No. 24 Missouri 15-11, 15-12, 15-6. Baylor could not stop a blistering Missouri offense that produced a .327 attacking percentage on the night. Meanwhile, the Bears' attack went south after the first game, resulting in a team attacking percentage of .210 for the match. BU hit .344 in the first game, but was forced into 20 errors over the next two games. Stevie Nicholas led the Bears with 19 kills and 13 digs for her 13th double-double of the season. Dana Atkinson posted her fourth double-double of the year with 10 kills and 13 digs. Tatiana Kenon added 13 kills, while Tisha Schwartz had 10 kills and hit a team-high .421 to go along with four blocks. Sunny Nicholas chipped in with 11 digs, and Dana Chuha had 54 assists.

Bears hope to add to Ames advantage, halt Hearns hex
Baylor would like to see one trend continue and another put to an end this weekend. The Bears are 5-0 all-time at Iowa State, dropping just one game in its five previous trips to Ames, Iowa. In fact, Baylor has won 14 consecutive games at ISU since dropping the second game of the 1996 match. Meanwhile, the Bears are 2-3 all-time in Columbia, Mo., having dropped three straight at the Hearnes Center. Baylor lost 3-1 in 1998 and in five games during each of the past two seasons.

Nebraska match wraps up brutal two-week stretch for Bears
There is no rest for the weary in the Big 12 Conference. Baylor learned that all too well during the first two weeks of conference play. Saturday's match against No. 1 Nebraska was the Bears' third match against a ranked team in its last four matches. The other match was against Colorado, which was high among those teams also receiving votes for both polls. The stretch started last Wednesday at then-No. 20 Texas, followed by Colorado, at No. 15 Texas A&M and now defending national champion Nebraska.

Tough stretch nothing new for Baylor
Believe it or not, though, the Bears have faced tougher stretches in the past. In 1996, Baylor faced then-No. 8 Texas, then-No. 15 Texas A&M and then-No. 23 Kansas State in back-to-back-to-back matches. Plus, the Bears played then-No. 25 Texas Tech and then-No. 5 Nebraska during their next four matches. Baylor lost all five of those matches against ranked teams. Later that season, Baylor faced another brutal three-match stretch, losing at then-No. 23 Kansas State and at home to then-No. 9 Texas before upsetting then-No. 10 Texas A&M at home. Even that was not the toughest stretch in school history, though. In 1998, Baylor had a run of four consecutive matches against ranked opponents, the longest such streak in school history. Three of the four matches were on the road. In that stretch, the Bears lost a neutral match to then-No. 22 Illinois, at then-No. 16 Arkansas, at home to then-No. 13 Texas and at then-No. 17 Texas A&M. In 1999, Baylor had a pair of four-match runs with three of the matches being against ranked teams. First, Baylor went loss-loss-win-win, respectively, at then-No. 22 Colorado, at then-No. 7 Texas, at home agasinst unranked Oklahoma and at home against then-No. 14 Texas A&M. Two weeks later, the Bears went loss-win-win-win, resepectively, at home against then-No. 12 Nebraska, at then-No. 12 Kansas State, at unranked Oklahoma and at home against then-No. 20 Colorado.

Slow conference start follows fast overall start
After matching the school-record for best start to a season at 8-0, the Bears have fallen on hard times in Big 12 Conference play. Baylor is 0-4 in the Big 12 for the first time in the league's six-year history. The Bears have started a conference season with at least four consecutive losses seven times, all during their membership in the Southwest Conference. In each case, Baylor finished the conference season winless.

Aggies silence Baylor service duo
For the first time in the 2001 season, both sophomore OHs Stevie Nicholas and Laura Daniela Lloreda went without a service ace Wednesday in Baylor's three-game loss at No. 15 Texas A&M. For Stevie Nicholas, it was her first ace-less match this season, tallying at least one in each of Baylor's first 10 matches. Lloreda was held without an ace in Baylor's third match of the season, a three-game victory over Louisiana State at the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans, La., that was her only ace-less match this season before Wednesday. The tandem has combined for 50 services aces this season, more than four Big 12 teams - Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas and Oklahoma - have amassed as a team this season.

Sunny Nicholas moves into eighth place on all-time kills chart
With her five kills Saturday against Nebraska, senior MB Sunny Nicholas moved into eighth place all-time at Baylor in career kills. The Fullerton, Calif., native now has 932 during her three-plus seasons in Waco, one better than Jana Ranly (1985-1988). Closing in on Ranly is senior RS Tatiana Kenon, who moved into the top 10 two weeks ago and now has 843 career kills. Sophomore OH Stevie Nicholas is also steadily taking aim on the school chart, she now has 818 kills in her 43-match career.

Bears looking strong at the service line
After averaging just 1.25 service aces per game a year ago, the Bears have been dominant at the line in 2001. Through the first 11 matches, Baylor is averaging a Big 12-best 2.59 per contest, which would rank as the best season average in school history. However, the focus is the vast improvement from the 2000 season - last year's average was the lowest in the program's history. OH Stevie Nicholas and DS Kimmy Scott led the Bears last season with 20 each. Thus far this season, Stevie Nicholas already has 27, OH Laura Daniela Lloreda has 25, and RS Tatiana Kenon has 17. As a team, Baylor has amassed 101 aces this season while allowing just 70.

Baylor in Big 12 rankings
The Bears lead the Big 12 Conference in four statistical categories and rank in the top five of three others in the latest rankings released Oct. 1. Baylor's 16.91 assists, 18.52 kills and 2.79 service aces all rank atop the conference leaderboard. Meanwhile, the Bears rank fifth in team attacking percentage (.245), third in fewest kills per game allowed (12.90) and fourth in fewest assists per game allowed. In conference matches, the Bears rank first in service aces per game (2.38).

All six starters listed among conference statistical leaders
Baylor has the distinction of having all six starters listed among the leaders in at least one of the six statistical categories the conference charts, according to the latest rankings released Oct. 1. Sophomore OH Stevie Nicholas leads the conference in kills per game (5.26) over Liz Wegner of Kansas State (5.17), and she ranks first with 0.69 service aces per game. Stevie Nicholas also ranks sixth in digs per game at 3.49. Senior S Dana Chuha is second in the Big 12 with 13.75 assists per game. Sophomore MB Tisha Schwartz is listed 10th in the blocks department with 1.05 per game, while senior MB Sunny Nicholas is third in attacking percentage at .389. Along with Stevie Nicholas, two other Bears are ranked in the top 10 in service aces per game, sophomore OH Laura Daniela Lloreda is third at 0.64, while senior RS Tatiana Kenon is ninth at 0.44. In conference matches, Stevie Nicholas ranks second in kills per game (4.77). She is sixth in service aces per game (0.62), while Lloreda leads the conference, averaging 0.77 per game. Chuha ranks eighth in such matches with 11.00 assists per game.

Baylor reschedules four matches
Baylor has rescheduled four matches for the 2001 season, the changes include the rescheduling of the two matches postponed due to the national tragedy Sept. 11. The Sept. 12 match at Iowa State has been rescheduled for Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m., the night before the Bears' match at Missouri. Baylor's Sept. 15 contest against Kansas has been moved to Sunday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m., the day following the Bears' match at home against Texas. Two other matches have been affected. Baylor was originally scheduled to host Southwest Texas State at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2. That match has been moved to Monday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. to accommodate the Bobcats' rescheduling efforts. Also, the Bears' final match of the regular season, Nov. 24 at home against Missouri, has been moved from a 7 p.m. start to 7:30 p.m. That match will be the final event in a triple-header of Baylor athletic events, including football and men's basketball.

Bears match best start in program's history
With its four-game victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Baylor moved to 8-0 on the season and matched the best start in the 24-year history of the BU volleyball program. The Bears started the 1999 season 8-0 before dropping a five-game decision at Southern Methodist. That team finished 26-9, tying the school record for best winning percentage and tying the school mark for most victories in a season. This marks the fifth time in school history the Bears have started the season with at least five wins, three of those have come in the past three seasons. Baylor opened the 1993 season 7-0, the Bears finished 26-15 that season and advanced to the championship match of the NIVC Tournament.

Bears claim fifth Baylor Classic title
Baylor's four-game triumph over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo gave the Bears the team title at the Baylor Classic, marking the fifth time in 11 Classics that BU has claimed first place. The Bears also won their own event in 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1999. Baylor is now 30-10 (.750) all-time in the Baylor Classic after winning 13 of its last 14 such contests dating back to the 1996 tournament. The lone loss in that time was at the hands of then-No. 11 UCLA in the championship match of the 2000 Baylor Classic.

Stevie Nicholas again leads all-tournament squad
Sophomore OH Stevie Nicholas claimed her third-career tournament MVP award at the Baylor Classic, earning such honors for the second time this season. She was so honored in her first weekend of collegiate volleyball last season at the Crowne Plaza Invitational hosted by Rice and again in this season's opening weekend at the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Classic hosted by Tulane. Joining Stevie Nicholas on the all-tournament squad at the Baylor Classic were fellow Bears S Dana Chuha and MB Sunny Nicholas. Cal Poly SLO was represented on the team by S Carly O'Halloran and MB Worthy Lien, other all-tournament selections were North Texas S Kristin Sheppard, and Rhode Island MB Yolanda Bogacz.

Baylor dominates NOKIA field
With wins over Nevada-Las Vegas, Louisiana State and host Tulane, Baylor claimed the team title at the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Classic last weekend as the only undefeated team. It marked the 14th regular-season tournament title in the program's history, the eighth during head coach Brian Hosfeld's tenure. The Bears enjoyed two impressive attacking games during the weekend. In game two against LSU, Baylor went 20-2-36 (.500). The Bears came out on fire against Tulane, going 19-1-32 (.562) in the first game. The lone error was a back-row attack call on an attempted set by S Dana Chuha. In that game, OH Stevie Nicholas was 10-0-13 (.769).

Four Bears selected NOKIA all-tournament, Stevie Nicholas named MVP
Just as the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Classic was dominated Baylor, the all-tournament team was also dominated by the Bears. Of the seven athletes chosen to the team, four donned the Green and Gold. OH Stevie Nicholas led the way as a unanimous MVP selection. She tallied 57 kill sin the three matches, averaging 5.40 per game and hitting at a .319 clip. Stevie Nicholas also averaged 3.40 digs and 0.80 service aced per game. Joining her on the all-tournament team were S Dana Chuha, RS Tatiana Kenon and MB Tisha Schwartz. It was the third all-tournament selection of Kenon's career, while Chuha and Schwartz were so honored for the first time in their careers.

Smith out for season with ACL tear
Less than two weeks before the beginning of the 2001 season, Baylor volleyball learned Wednesday that junior OH Lisa Smith will be forced to miss the entire season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. Smith is in her first season with the Baylor program after transferring to the school from Blinn County College in January. A second-team junior college all-America selection last season at Blinn, Smith sustained the injury Aug. 16 during the Bears' final practice of their two-week training session in Japan. It is expected that she will receive a medical redshirt for the 2001 season.

Baylor conducts two-a-days in Japan
Baylor got a taste of international volleyball during the preseason two-a-days session, spending Aug. 6-17 in Japan. The Bears held daily practices and scrimmaged against various teams during their two-week stay in the Land of the Rising Sun. During the first week, Baylor was stationed at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan. There, the Bears competed against the host team, which has won four national collegiate titles and has reached the national tournament in each of the past 23 seasons. Baylor also held scrimmages against Shokei Women's Junior College, the top-ranked junior college team in Japan, and various area high school teams. The Bears spent the second week in Tendo/Yamagata, Japan, training with and competing against the Pioneer Red Wings. Coached by legendary international coach Arie Selinger, the Red Wings are Japan's top professional team. Selinger also coached the U.S. women's national team from 1978 to 1984, under Selinger's leadership, Team USA won gold medals at the 1980 World Championships and at the Games of the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles, Calif.

Big 12 coaches tab Baylor to finish seventh
Perhaps following status quo from the 2000 season, the 11 head coaches in the Big 12 Conference picked Baylor to finish seventh in their annual preseason poll. The Bears tied Texas for seventh last year, both with 8-12 records in conference play, UT was picked to finish eighth this season. Nebraska was an overwhelming selection to win its fourth consecutive Big 12 title and fifth in the league's six-year history. Texas A&M was picked to finish second, and Colorado was slotted for third. Kansas State and Missouri tied for fourth, followed by Texas Tech. Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa State rounded out the coaches' preseason rankings.

Stevie Nicholas, Lloreda earn preseason Big 12 honors
Stevie Nicholas, the 2000 Big 12 and AVCA South Central Region freshman of the year, joined seven other athletes on the preseason all-conference team. Meanwhile, Laura Daniela Lloreda was chosen preseason newcomer of the year. Nicholas, a first-team all-Big 12 pick last season, joins Greichaly Cepero (S, Nebraska), Nancy Metcalf (OH, Nebraska), Laura Pilakowski (OH/MB, Nebraska), Jenna Moscovic (S, Texas A&M) and Elizabeth Gower (S, Colorado) on the team. Lloreda joins Baylor this season from Universidad de las Americas in Mexico, she also played for the Mexican National Team last year. Cepero was chosen preseason player of the year, while fellow Cornhusker Allyne Rebholz was tabbed preseason freshman of the year.

Baylor on the web
Baylor volleyball information can be accessed 24 hours a day at the school's athletic website www.GoBaylorBears.com. Fans and media alike can find the latest news and notes on the site along with match recaps, box scores, player features, player and coach bios and various other informational resources. Baylor volleyball matches will also be webcast, beginning with the first home conference match.