Oct. 6, 2001

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Career win No. 100 could not have come at a better time for Baylor women's volleyball head Brian Hosfeld. Tatiana Kenon pounded a career-high 23 kills and hit .465 as the Bears knocked off Missouri 25-30, 30-21, 30-21, 30-27 here Saturday night.

With the win, the Bears' first at Missouri since 1997, Baylor improves to 10-4 on the season and 2-4 in Big 12 Conference play. Meanwhile, the Tigers fall to 11-4 and 3-4.

"This is a great win, any win is a great win," Hosfeld said. "Every time we come here, we feel like we give them a good match, we just haven't been able to pull it out. Tonight, we had some seniors really step it up and play well. That was the key."

Kenon led that senior charge, collecting five more kills than she ever had before. She also had a career-high seven assists, tied her season high with three service aces, notched nine digs and blocked a pair of balls. Meanwhile senior setter Dana Chuha also posted a career high in kills with 12, five better than her previous career best. Chuha had 12 errorless kills in 20 swings for a .600 attacking percentage. She also had 52 assists, nine digs and two blocks.

Stevie Nicholas added 17 kills, and Sunny Nicholas had 11. Laura Daniela Lloreda made up for a negative .160 attacking percentage with a match-high 20 digs, the first 20-dig performance of her career. Kimmy Scott came off the bench for 13 digs. As a team, the Bears hit .244 and held Missouri to a .159 percentage. Baylor out-killed Mizzou 78-55 and out-dug the Tigers 85-75.

Hosfeld, who has the highest winning percentage of any coach in the 24-year history of Baylor volleyball, is now 100-80 in his six seasons as the Bears' head coach. He is now one victory shy of tying Tom Sonnichsen for the school record for coaching victories, Sonnichsen guided the Bears to 101 triumphs from 1989 to 1995.

"This definitely gets us back on track," Hosfeld said. The victory over Missouri, coupled with a three-game victory Friday night at Iowa State, put an end to an 0-4 start in conference play for the Bears. "Any time you win on the road in this conference, it helps. But there is a lot of volleyball left to play, and we realize that. Nebraska's got a pretty good perch at the top, but the rest of us are really fighting it out. This thing is still wide open."

A five-point Missouri run midway through the first game proved fatal for the Bears in the opener. Leading 20-19, Missouri scored five straight points to push its advantage to 25-19 and the Tigers never trailed again. Baylor played MU nearly point-for-point from there, but the gap was too much to close. The Bears committed 11 attacking errors in the opener and hit just .125 as a team. Meanwhile, Missouri swung at a .282 clip and tallied seven blocks to Baylor's none.

In game two, the momentum shifted to Baylor's side of the court. The Bears notched five consecutive points to stretch a two-point lead to 26-19, Missouri did not get within six points again. Baylor got three straight points moments later to take a 29-20 lead. Missouri salvaged one game point, but a Stevie Nicholas kill on the next serve ended the game.

Baylor hit .289 in the second game, dropping its attacking error total to five and tallying 18 kills. Meanwhile, MU was held to a .083 attacking percentage in game two, the Bears held the Tigers to 12 kills and blocked Missouri three times. Stevie Nicholas came alive for Baylor in the second game, after going 4-4-10 (.000) in the opener, she pounded six errorless kills in 13 swings (.462) in the second.

That momentum stayed with the Bears in game three. Baylor took an early 5-1 lead and led the rest of the way. Ahead 16-13, Baylor went on a four-point run to take a commanding 22-13 lead. That run completely hushed the crowd of 1,823 fans in the Hearnes Center, the second-largest crowd in Missouri history.

But the Tigers were not about to go quietly. Trailing 21-16 in the fourth game, Missouri battled back to tie the score at 25-25. After a Baylor time out, MU took a 26-25 lead, its first since early in the game. But Baylor answered with four straight points to go up 29-26. Missouri managed to hold off the Bears for one more point, but the Tigers committed their 26th attacking error of the night on the next serve to give Baylor the victory.

Baylor will return home for its next match, hosting Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Bears will then travel to Manhattan, Kan., for a 7 p.m. match Saturday. Baylor swept Oklahoma last while splitting the season series with Kansas State, winning at home.