Nov. 14, 2001

Box Score

WACO, Texas - Stevie Nicholas tallied 18 kills and Kimmy Scott collected 17 digs, but it was not enough as Baylor fell to No. 22 Kansas State 30-25, 34-32, 30-27 here Wednesday night in women's volleyball action.

With the loss, the Bears fall to 17-9 on the season and 8-9 in Big 12 Conference play. Kansas State improves to 17-7 and 13-5 with its sixth consecutive victory.

Tatiana Kenon and Dana Chuha were the only Bears to hit better than .300 on the night. Kenon had 12 kills and hit .364, while Chuha had five kills and hit .333. But the Bears could not find a way to stop KSU's Lauren Goehring, who pounded 14 kills with only one error in 21 swings (.619). As a team, Baylor hit just .205 as opposed to K-State's .253 percentage.

"Hitting .205 was not the end of the world," Baylor head coach Brian Hosfeld said. "There were many more problems than that. We really started to hit the ball better after game one, but we were still out of our usual rhythm."

Baylor's offense was out of synch most of the night, perhaps showing effects of not having a match last Saturday. The Bears committed 10 attacking errors in the opener, just five fewer than Kansas State committed all night, for a first-game percentage of .164 (19-10-55). Stevie Nicholas had eight of her 18 kills in the first game, but after starting the game 6-0-14, she was had two errors and no kills in her final four swings.

The Bears did not attack much better in game two, swinging at a .190 clip (20-9-58). However, Baylor still had its chances to win and even the match. The Bears broke out of a 26-26 tie with three straight points to reach game point at 29-26. Kansas State answered, though, with four consecutive points to grab game point at 30-29. Baylor withstood four Wildcat game points, but a Jenny Pollard cross-court kill gave KSU the win.

Baylor finally got the offense going in the third game, attacking at a rate of .303 (16-6-33) as a team. Stevie Nicholas had six kills with one error in nine attempts, while Tatiana Kenon had four kills and one error in six tries in the third game. However, four Kansas State service aces gave the Wildcats enough of a push to get past the Bears.

Tisha Schwartz added 13 kills for her sixth consecutive match with at least 10 kills. Laura Daniela Lloreda had 13 digs, and Sunny Nicholas notched 11 digs. Stevie Nicholas led the Bears on the blocks with three, while Chuha dished out 43 assists.

The road will not get any easier for the Bears. Baylor will travel to Lincoln, Neb., this weekend for a 7 p.m. match Saturday at No. 2 Nebraska. The Cornhuskers defeated BU in three games earlier this season in Waco.