Sept. 26, 2001
Box Score
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Baylor's women's volleyball team was held to a team attacking percentage of .160 here Wednesday night as the Bears dropped a 30-19, 30-25, 30-23 decision to 15th-ranked Texas A&M. With the loss, Baylor falls to 8-3 on the season and 0-3 in Big 12 Conference play. Texas A&M improves to 9-1 and 2-0.
Stevie Nicholas posted her eighth double-double of the season with match highs of 14 kills and 14 digs, however, the Fullerton, Calif., sophomore hit just .132 on the night with nine attacking errors in 38 swings. Tatiana Kenon also reached double figures in kills for Baylor with 11 and an attacking percentage of .304. Sunny Nicholas added seven kills with one error in 16 swings (.375), while Tisha Schwartz led the Bears in blocks with five.
A slow start spelled doom for the Bears in the first game. Texas A&M scored the first three points of the match and went on to build a 12-3 lead. Baylor began to hold ground, scoring four of the next seven points, but the Aggies quickly answered and pushed their lead back out to 23-9. From there, the Bears could never get any closer than nine points, doing so on three occasions.
Game two featured an old-fashioned slugfest that would have made for a long side-out scored match. With the Bears leading 19-18, A&M scored the next two points to take a 20-19 lead. From there, the Bears and Aggies traded serve 12 consecutive times before A&M outside hitter Brandi Mount toed the line and served five straight points to give the Aggies the 30-25 win. Melissa Munsch and Jessa Moscovic got the game-winning run started for the Aggies, blocking Stevie Nicholas at 26-25.
In the third game, Baylor saw an early 4-3 lead disappear when A&M scored three straight points, the Bears never led again. The Aggies led by as many as nine points at 27-18 before the Bears cut their deficit to five points at 23-18. However, Baylor could not cut into the A&M lead any further as Beth Skypala served out the game 30-23. Just as was the case last Saturday against Colorado, the Bears saw this match come to an end when an opponent's serve hit the net, rolled over and hit the floor.
The Bears could not find a way to stop the Aggie duo of Munsch and Michelle Cole. Munsch had 11 kills, five blocks and hit .438, while Cole equaled her kill output and hit .429. Moscovic paced the A&M offense to a team attacking percentage of .315, the highest mark against Baylor this season. She also had 41 assists, six kills, four blocks and hit at a .313 clip. A.D. Achilefu added seven kills and hit .357, and Erin Lechler had eight kills and a team-high 11 digs.
Baylor will return to action Saturday, hosting No. 1 Nebraska for a 7 p.m. match at the Ferrell Center. The Cornhuskers will enter the match 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference after topping Iowa State.
