Baylor
Nebraska
Volleyball Battles but Falls to No. 1 Nebraska
9/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 29, 2001
WACO, Texas - Stevie Nicholas put away a match-high 14 kills, but it was not enough as Baylor fell to No. 1 Nebraska 31-29, 30-21, 30-18 here Saturday night in Big 12 Conference women's volleyball action.
With the loss, Baylor falls to 8-4 on the season and 0-4 in conference play. Nebraska improves to 10-1 and 3-0, the Huskers have now won 33 consecutive Big 12 matches, dating back to the 1999 season.
Laura Daniela Lloreda added 10 kills for the Bears, who have now lost four consecutive matches for the first time since late in the 1998 season. Tisha Schwartz had seven kills, while Sunny Nicholas and Tatiana Kenon had five and four, respectively. Lloreda and Dana Chuha each had two service aces, Chuha led all players with nine digs.
Baylor gave the top-ranked Huskers all they wanted in the first game, attacking at a .317 clip as a team. The Bears put away 21 kills in the first game, led by Stevie Nicholas with eight kills and a .375 attacking percentage.
However, as hot as Baylor was in the opener, Nebraska was even more torrid. The Huskers hit an eye-popping .647 in the first game with 22 errorless kills in 34 attempts. Baylor was only able to stay in the game thanks to five service aces and four Nebraska service errors.
Neither team led by more than two points in game one until Baylor used Sunny Nicholas' serve to build a 22-19 advantage. After the teams traded points twice, Nebraska scored four straight points to take a 25-24 lead. From there, Baylor and Nebraska traded points for 10 consecutive serves before a Laura Pilakowski kill gave the Huskers the 31-29 victory.
In the second game, Nebraska cooled off a little bit, but the Huskers still hit .400 as a team (18-6-30). Meanwhile, NU increased its block and held the Bears to a .114 attacking percentage. Baylor put away just 12 kills in the second game with eight errors in 35 swings.
Game three saw Nebraska cool off even more, hitting just .205 (14-6-39), however, a strong NU block again contained the Bears' offense. Baylor tallied nine kills and committed 13 errors for a negative-.091 team attacking percentage in the third game.
Nebraska finished the evening with a .408 attacking percentage compared to Baylor's .108. The Huskers also out-dug the Bears 42-36 and out-blocked the Bears 16-2. Nebraska as a team committed just 12 attacking errors, the same totaled committed by Stevie Nicholas. Baylor was forced into 28 attacking errors as a team.
The trio of Amber Holmquist, Nancy Metcalf and Pilakowski led the way for Nebraska. Holmquist had 13 kills, hit .647 and tallied a match-high nine blocks. Metcalf also had 13 kills, hitting .393, to go along with five blocks and a team-high eight digs. Pilakowski added 11 kills and hit .500 on the night.
Baylor will have five days off before its next match. The Bears will travel to Ames, Iowa, next Friday, Oct. 5, for a 7 p.m. match at Iowa State. Baylor will travel straight from Ames to Columbia, Mo., for a 7 p.m. match at Missouri the following night. Tuesday's match at home against Southwest Texas State has been rescheduled for Monday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m.
