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BAYLOR
at
OKLAHOMA
7 p.m.
Nov. 7, 2001
Howard McCasland Field House
Norman, Okla.
Baylor will return to action Wednesday, traveling to Norman, Okla., for a 7 p.m. match at Oklahoma. The Bears enter the match at 16-8 on the season and 7-8 in the Big 12 Conference, BU is currently seventh in the conference standings. Baylor is coming off a 33-31, 33-31, 30-26 loss at home Saturday to No. 14 Texas A&M. The Bears are currently among those receiving votes for the Volleyball Magazine Top 20. Oklahoma enters the match with a 2-24 overall record and a 1-12 mark in league play. The Sooners, currently 10th in the Big 12 standings, played two matches Sunday, falling 30-15, 30-16, 26-30, 30-23 to Wichita State and losing 30-15, 30-21, 30-20 to Southwest Missouri State. Both matches were played at SMS.
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 106-85 (.555) overall record and a 47-68 (.409) 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 Baylor's winningest coach
With the Bears' five-game victory Oct. 20 at Kansas, head coach Brian Hosfeld claimed his 102nd-career victory at Baylor, breaking the Baylor record for career coaching victories. The mark was previously held by Tom Sonnichsen (1989-1995). Hosfeld reached 101 wins in 182 matches, Sonnichsen took 247 matches to amass his win total. Hosfeld currently holds the highest career winning percentage of any coach in school history at .555 (106-85).
Hosfeld against Oklahoma
Head coach Brian Hosfeld has a career record of 6-5 against Oklahoma, winning each of the last five meetings. Hosfeld-coached teams are 4-2 against the Sooners in Waco and 2-3 at Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma series
This will be the 24th meeting between the two schools with Oklahoma holding a 15-8 advantage in the all-time series. However, the Bears lead the series 6-5 since the beginning of Big 12 play in 1996. The teams first met in 1979, Baylor's second season of volleyball, in Tulsa, Okla., at the Oral Roberts Invitational. Oklahoma won that match 15-8, 13-15, 15-9 and went on to win the first eight matches in the series before a 1992 Baylor victory in Haltom City, Texas. The Bears are 2-9 all-time in Norman, but they have been victorious in each of their past two trips to OU, including a four-game win last season. Baylor won the first meeting this season, a 30-25, 30-20, 30-21 decision in Waco.
Last time against Oklahoma
Stevie Nicholas put away 18 kills and Laura Daniela Lloreda added another 10 as Baylor rolled to a 30-25, 30-20, 30-21 victory. With the win, Baylor head coach Brian Hosfeld tied the school record for career victories at 101. Baylor hit .351 as a team, tallying 54 kills with only 14 errors in 114 attempts. Meanwhile, Oklahoma hit just .142 as a team, managing only 32 kills with 17 errors in 106 swings. The Bears also edged the Sooners in the digs column 48-34 and in service aces 11-7. Trailing 9-7 in the first game, the Bears rolled off six consecutive points to take a 13-9 lead, the Sooners never got closer than two points from there. Baylor hit .375 in the first game, holding Oklahoma at .162. In the second game, Baylor broke out of a 4-4 tie with another six-point run and never looked back. The Bears raised their attacking percentage to .387 in the second game, holding OU to .182. Baylor closed out the match by out-killing Oklahoma 20-6 in game three. The Bears hit .302 as a team in the third, while the Sooners hit .083. Baylor held a slim 11-10 lead but then scored 14 of the next 18 points to take a commanding 25-14 lead that it never relinquished. Lloreda hit .389 on the night with nine digs and a service ace. Tisha Schwartz added eight kills with only one error in 11 swings (.636) to go along with a pair of blocks. Dana Chuha, who paced the Bears' offense to their highest attacking percentage since hitting .359 Sept. 7 against Rhode Island, contributed five errorless kills in 11 attempts (.455) with 39 assists and a match-high 12 digs for her 27th-career and third-consecutive double-double. Tatiana Kenon added seven kills, three service aces, nine digs and two blocks. Kimmy Scott came off the bench for eight digs and three service aces, while Sarah Braga had two service aces.
Schwartz swinging strong over past two weeks
Sophomore MB Tisha Schwartz has stepped into her own over the past two weeks. In the Bears last four matches, she is hitting .333 (55-18-111) with 3.06 kills and 1.28 blocks per game. Included in that stretch was a career-high 18 kill performance against Kansas, in which she attacked at a rate of .368 with seven blocks. Schwartz put down 16 kills, four blocks and hit .323 last Saturday against Texas A&M. The Amarillo, Texas, native has now gone eight consecutive matches with at least one block, she has also posted five straight matches with at least 10 kills. Schwartz started each of the Bears' first 16 matches before head coach Brian Hosfeld readjusted his starting line up for defensive reasons. Since that point, Schwartz is averaging 2.97 kills and 1.19 blocks per game while attacking at a .297 clip.
Stevie Nicholas riding strong four-match stretch
Sophomore OH Stevie Nicholas has collected 20 or more kills in four consecutive matches, the second time in her career she has acheived that feat. Last season, she tied Kia Young's school record with six consecutive 20-kill matches. This season, her run began with 32 against Texas, followed by 21 against Kansas, 28 against Colorado and 26 against Texas A&M. Her performance against the Aggies was a school record for a three-game match. In those four matches, she owns an attacking percentage of .307, she is also averaging 5.94 kills, 2.83 digs and 0.72 blocks per game during that time.
Weekend warriors
Baylor is 12-4 this season in matches played during the weekend, 4-0 on Fridays, 7-4 on Saturdays and 1-0 on Sundays. On the other hand, the Bears are just 4-4 in midweek games, going 1-0 on Mondays, 1-0 on Tuesdays and 2-4 on Wednesdays.
Bears getting familiar with five-game matches
After not playing a five-game match in their first 16 matches this season, the Bears have played six in their next eight matches. That is a school record for an eight-match stretch. Since the beginning of the 1999 season, Baylor has played 19 five-game matches, a school record for a three-year span.
Baylor in Big 12 rankings
The Bears lead the Big 12 Conference in two statistical categories and rank in the top four of nine others in the latest rankings released Oct. 29. Baylor's 2.19 service aces is atop the conference leaderboard. Baylor is also leading the conference with 1.80 aces per game in conference matches. Meanwhile, the Bears are fourth in attacking percentage (.249), fourth in assists per game (15.45), second in fewest kills per game allowed (13.60) and second in fewest assists per game allowed (12.27). In conference matches, Baylor is tied for fourth in attacking percentage (.228), third in fewest kills per game allowed (15.06), fourth in fewest assists per game allowed (13.57) and fourth in fewest digs per game allowed (16.65).
Five of six starters listed among conference statistical leaders
Baylor has the distinction of having five of 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. 29. Sophomore OH Stevie Nicholas leads the conference in kills per game (5.10), well ahead of Liz Wegner of Kansas State (4.62). Sophomore OH Laura Daniela Lloreda leads the conference in service aces per game at 0.57, while Stevie Nicholas is second (0.54) and senior RS Tatiana Kenon is ninth (0.39). Senior S Dana Chuha is third in the Big 12 with 13.25 assists per game, and Senior MB Sunny Nicholas is 10th in attacking percentage at .339. Lloreda also ranks ninth in digs per game at 3.36. In conference matches, Stevie Nicholas ranks first in kills per game at 5.04, well ahead of second-place Mira Topic of Texas (4.55), and tied for third in service aces per game (0.45). Lloreda is fifth with 0.43 aces per game, while Kenon is eighth at 0.35. Chuha ranks fifth in such matches with 12.58 assists per game. Lloreda is sixth in conference matches with 3.61 digs per game.
Bears rank high in NCAA statistical rankings
Baylor ranks in the top 30 nationally in three of the six statistical categories charted by the NCAA Statistics Bureau, according to the latest rankings released Oct. 22. The Bears are sixth in kills per game, eighth in assists per game and tied for 24th in service aces per game. Individually, two Bears are ranked nationally in three categories. Sophomore OH Stevie Nicholas is ninth in kills per game and 24th in service aces per game, while senior S Dana Chuha is 13th in assists per game.
Bears looking strong at the service line
After averaging an all-time program-low 1.25 service aces per game a year ago, the Bears have been dominant at the line in 2001. Through 22 matches, Baylor is averaging a Big 12-best 2.03 per contest. OH Stevie Nicholas and DS Kimmy Scott led the Bears last season with 20 each. Thus far this season, OH Laura Daniela Lloreda has a team-high 46, OH Stevie Nicholas has 45 and RS Tatiana Kenon has 32. In all, seven Bears have tallied at least 10 service aces this season. As a team, Baylor has amassed 179, including 33 over the past five matches.
Big 12 Conference showing its strength
Easily one of the top volleyball conferences in the nation, the Big 12 is proving itself this season. Along with having four teams (Nebraska, Texas A&M, Colorado and Kansas State) currently ranked in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll, seven of the conference's 11 teams are playing .600-or-better ball, and nine teams are above .500. In all, seven Big 12 teams have been ranked at some point this season (add in Baylor, Kansas State, Missouri and Texas), while two others (Kansas and Texas Tech) have been listed among those also receiving votes at some point this season. Last year, the conference sent six teams (Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Colorado) to the NCAA Tournament with conference champion Nebraska winning the national championship. Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996, 10 of the 11 schools have made at least one appearance in the NCAA Touranment.
Lloreda, Bears ace Southwest Texas State
Sophomore OH Laura Daniela Lloreda tied the Baylor school record with nine service aces in a match Monday to lead the Bears past Southwest Texas State. Lloreda matched the total amassed by Jana Ranly in a five-game match Oct. 3, 1985 against Rice. A native of Veracruz, Mexico, Lloreda's mark will stand alone as the school record for aces in a three-game match. Her total is also a Big 12 record for a match of any length. In all, Baylor had 14 service aces against SWT, one shy of the school record for aces in a three-game match.
Stevie Nicholas etches name in Baylor records book yet again
Sophomore OH Stevie Nicholas tied Elisha Polk's school record for kills in a match Oct. 20 when she pounded 36 in Baylor's five-game win at Kansas. She now has five matches with at least 30 kills in her career, one shy of Polk's school and Big 12 mark. Along with the fact that Stevie Nicholas posted her 36 kills under the new rally scoring format, what made the performance most amazing was that she hit .405 for the match. Entering the fourth game, she had already amassed 25 kills with only one error in 53 swings (.453). The percentages finally caught up with the Fullerton, Calif., native in the fourth game as she hit just .118 (5-3-17). However, an eye-popping 9-0-13 (.692) performance in the fifth game not only allowed Stevie Nicholas to tie Polk's record, it also led Baylor to victory.
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.
