Baylor
Nebraska
Volleyball Gives No. 2 Nebraska a Scare
11/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 17, 2001
LINCOLN, Neb. - After becoming the first team in nearly a year to take a game off Nebraska on its home court, Baylor's women's volleyball team dropped a 28-30, 30-26, 30-26, 30-19 decision here Saturday night to the No. 2 Cornhuskers.
With the loss, the Bears fall to 17-10 on the season and 8-10 in Big 12 Conference play. Nebraska, 24-1 and 17-0, pushes its winning streak to 22 matches and clinched no worse than a share of a fifth Big 12 title in the league's six-year history. The Huskers have now won 42 consecutive home matches and 46 straight conference matches.
Baylor joined Long Beach State, Missouri, Pacific and Texas A&M as the only teams to take at least one game off the Huskers this season. Long Beach State gave Nebraska its lone loss of the year, a four-game triumph Sept. 1 at the Long Beach Invitational.
"The first game definitely set the tone defensively," Baylor head coach Brian Hosfeld said. "We probably played our best floor defense of the season. That played into our offense. Both teams played good defense. Nebraska just got it going in transition in the fourth game."
Stevie Nicholas led all players with 16 kills, but she also committed 18 errors for an attacking percentage of negative .032. Tisha Schwartz had the best all-around night for the Bears, putting down 11 kills and seven blocks with a .333 attacking percentage.
As a team, the Bears hit .062 and committed a season-high 50 attacking errors. However, Nebraska was not very sharp either, hitting a season-low .175. That figure was helped immensely by an 18-5-33 (.394) attack in the fourth game.
Baylor was in the match from the first service. The Bears erased a 4-2 game-one deficit with four consecutive points, and then built a 12-7 lead with a six-point run. Included in that stretch were three consecutive service aces by Stevie Nicholas. Nebraska battled back, closing to within one point at 13-12 and two points at 15-13. Baylor answered by scoring four straight and six of the next eight points to push its lead to a 21-15 advantage that forced Nebraska to use its second time out of the game.
From there, the Huskers began to chip away at the lead. Trailing 25-20, Nebraska went on a four-point run, during which time Baylor used both time outs. The key play was a Dana Chuha kill at 25-23 that was ruled as a lift. Nebraska's rally reached its climax at 28-28, the game's first tie since 7-7. Tatiana Kenon then smashed a kill down the right line, and Sunny Nicholas followed with a kill in the middle to give Baylor the 30-28 victory.
The game one triumph was Baylor's first against Nebraska in 13 meetings, snapping a 24-game winning streak by the Huskers in the series. It also marked the first time since the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament that Nebraska lost a game on its home court. Going into the night, the Huskers had swept 23 consecutive regular season home matches with 72 straight game victories.
Baylor did not let up in the second game, building an 11-8 lead. Nebraska answered with a time out and a three-point run to tie the score. Trailing 20-19, the Bears scored three straight and five of the next six to take a 24-21 lead. However, the Huskers answered with a three-point run to tie the score at 24-24 and then scored six of the next eight points for the 30-26 win.
After the Bears erased a 10-8 deficit with four straight points, Nebraska did not enjoy another lead in the third game until three straight points gave the Huskers a 25-23 advantage. From there, the teams played side-out ball, eventually giving Nebraska service with game point at 29-26. On the next point, a Stevie Nicholas attack found the antenna, giving the Huskers the victory.
In game four, Nebraska overcame a 3-0 Baylor lead with seven straight points and never looked back. Baylor trailed 9-7 before the Huskers went on a 4-0 run, the Bears never closed to within fewer than four points after that.
"This was a good night for us," Hosfeld said. "It was our first time to take a game from Nebraska, and I'm sure that was on the seniors' minds. Hopefully for the younger players that gives them some confidence when coming here in future years."
The Bears out-dug the Huskers 75-61 and out-killed NU 62-59, but Nebraska tallied 20 blocks to eight by the out-sized Baylor front line. Tatiana Kenon gave Baylor a third player in double figures in kills with 10, however, she also had 10 errors for a .000 attacking percentage. Laura Daniela Lloreda led all players with 16 digs. Stevie Nicholas had 13 digs, Dana Chuha and Kimmy Scott had 12 each, Sunny Nicholas had 10 and Jillian Mazzarella came off the bench for 11.
Baylor will return to action Wednesday as the Bears travel to Lubbock, Texas, for their final road match of the regular season, a 7 p.m. match against Texas Tech. The Raiders nipped Baylor in five games earlier this season in Waco, all five games were decided by two points with four of the five going past the normal winning score.
