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BAYLOR
at
KANSAS

7:00 p.m. CDT
Oct. 12, 2002
Horejsi Family Athletics Center
Lawrence, Kan.

Baylor travels to Lawrence, Kan., this weekend for a 7 p.m. CDT match Saturday at Kansas. The Bears (8-8, 2-4) defeated Texas Tech 30-25, 30-24, 30-26 at home Wednesday night and have won two straight. The Jayhawks (13-2, 4-2) defeated Iowa State 31-29, 30-16, 25-30, 30-23 at home Wednesday night and have won five of six. Kansas is among teams also receiving votes for the AVCA/USA Today Coaches Poll. Score updates for the match will be available online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the Official College Sports Network.

QUICK NOTES
* Baylor and Kansas meet for the 16th time Saturday with the Bears leading the all-time series 12-3. Baylor is 10-2 against Kansas as Big 12 foes.
* Baylor has started each of the past two Big 12 seasons 0-4 before winning its next two conference matches.
* Junior RS Laura Daniela Lloreda matched her season high with five service aces Wednesday against Texas Tech. It was the first match in which Lloreda had served since an Aug. 31 contest at Long Beach State. She has served in four matches this season with 13 aces.
* Junior OH/MB Tisha Schwartz collected 17 digs Wednesday against Texas Tech, a career high and the fourth-best match total this season by a Bear.
* Freshman MB Alison Heffner, a former club player who joined the roster Sept. 26, led the Bears with six blocks Wednesday against Texas Tech. That was a career best for Heffner, who now leads Baylor with 0.93 blocks per game.
* The Bears hit .280 as a team Wednesday against Texas Tech. That was Baylor's highest attacking percentage since a .346 clip Sept. 14 against Utah State.
* Baylor has tallied at least one service ace in 49 consecutive matches and at least two service aces in 18 straight matches.

HEAD COACH BRIAN HOSFELD
Baylor is in its seventh season under the direction of head coach Brian Hosfeld. During his tenure, the Bears have compiled a 116-97 (.545) overall record and a 51-75 (.405) mark in the rugged Big 12 Conference. Hosfeld is credited with putting Baylor volleyball on the map. After losing seasons in 14 of 18 seasons prior to Hosfeld's arrival, Baylor has finished above .500 in four of the last six seasons. Baylor has made two NCAA Tournament appearances in that time, advancing to the second round before losing to eventual national champion Penn State in 1999. Owner of the highest winning percentage of the program's seven head coaches, Hosfeld has amassed the most wins, both overall and in conference play, of any coach in school history.

HOSFELD vs. KANSAS
Head coach Brian Hosfeld has a career record of 10-2 against Kansas. The seventh-year Baylor coach won each of his first six meetings with the Jayhawks, sweeping the season series in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2001. Kansas' first victory over a Hosfeld-coached team was a three-game triumph at Lawrence during the 1999 season. KU also defeated Baylor in three-games at Lawrence two years ago.

LAST TIME OUT - BAYLOR 3, TEXAS TECH 0
WACO, Texas - Tisha Schwartz put away 21 kills and collected a career-high 17 digs to lead Baylor past Texas Tech 30-25, 30-24, 30-26. Baylor came out on fire offensively, hitting .395 in game one and holding the Red Raiders to a .238 clip. Schwartz hit .429 (6-0-14) in the opener, while Kelly Spriggs hit .500 (6-1-10). Trailing 16-15, Baylor scored nine of the next 13 points to take control of the game. Tech pulled to within one point at 26-25, but three Raider attack errors and a Schwartz kill put the game away. The Bears built an early lead in game two and then withstood a furious Raider rally late in the game. Baylor led by as much as 10 points on five occasions, including a 25-15 edge. That's when Tech charged back, scoring nine of the next 12 points to pull close at 27-25. But that was as close as Tech could get. Schwartz put a kill on the floor and then joined Alison Heffner on a block to end the game. Baylor had to battle from behind in the third game, falling behind early at 6-1. The Bears finally pulled even at 13-13 but later found themselves behind at 23-21. From there, Baylor scored five of the next seven points and took control of the game. Schwartz finished the game with her 21st kill of the night. Heffner led all players with six blocks, establishing a career high and leading the Bears to 10.0 blocks as a team. Emily Huston added four blocks, while Schwartz and Stella Odion had three each. Spriggs finished with 11 kills and hit .333 on the night; Schwartz hit .390 on the evening and finished with 23.5 points.

THE KANSAS SERIES
Baylor is 12-3 all-time against Kansas, holding a 10-2 advantage in the series since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996. The teams first met at El Paso, Texas, during the 1995 season; Kansas won that match in three games. Baylor and KU did not meet again until a 1993 five-game Bears' triumph in Lawrence. In 1995, Baylor defeated the Jayhawks in four games at the Arby's Classic at Lincoln, Neb. Last season, the Bears swept KU for the fourth time in six Big 12 seasons, winning in five games at both venues. Of note, all three Kansas victories in the series have been of the three-game variety.

THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS
Kansas (13-2, 4-2) is in its fifth season under the direction of head coach Ray Bechard. The Fort Hays State alumnus is 76-62 in his career, all coming at Kansas.

KU Notes: The Jayhawks opened the season with eight consecutive victories, the best start to a season in school history. Since that time, KU is 5-2 with losses at Texas A&M (Sept. 18) and at Texas (Oct. 5). The Jayhawks have also posted Big 12 victories at home against Oklahoma (3-0), Texas Tech (3-0) and Iowa State (3-1), and at Colorado (3-2). ... Kansas hits .279 as a team and holds opponents to a .153 clip. The Jayhawks average 16.76 kills, 1.98 service aces, 16.31 digs and 2.52 blocks per game. ... Sophomore MB Ashley Michaels has been a stalwart for KU in the middle, hitting .418 on the season with 2.98 kills and 1.17 blocks per game. Freshman MB Josiane Lima leads the team with 4.13 kills per game and hits at a .327 rate; she also averages 1.09 blocks per game. Junior OH Sarah Rome paces the Jayhawks defensively with 3.25 digs per game. ... Senior OH Renita Davidson is a graduate of Arlington HS in Arlington, Texas.

NICHOLAS OUT FOR REMAINDER OF SEASON
Junior all-America candidate OH Stevie Nicholas has taken the final swing of her junior season after surgical procedures Wednesday afternoon. Nicholas, who tore her medial-meniscus Sept. 18 in a match against Colorado, has missed the last five Baylor matches and is now diagnosed as "out for the remainder of the season," according to head coach Brian Hosfeld and assistant trainer Alison Krajewski. Arguably the most explosive player in the Big 12 Conference and one of the nation's elite attackers, Nicholas ends her junior season with 218 kills, 38 service aces, 113 digs, 29 blocks and 272.5 points. She started all 11 matches in which she appeared and averaged 5.45 kills, 0.95 service aces, 2.83 digs and 0.73 blocks per game. Nicholas still leads the Big 12 in kills, aces and points; she also ranks sixth nationally in aces.

LAST MEETING - BAYLOR 3, KANSAS 2 (OCT. 28, 2001)
WACO, Texas - Tisha Schwartz put down a 18 kills, hit .368 and tallied seven blocks to lead Baylor past Kansas 30-27, 23-30, 30-23, 28-30, 15-11. Baylor attacked .262 as a team, improving to 41-3 over the past three seasons when attacking at a rate of .250 or better. But the difference in the match was Baylor's attack in the fifth game. The Bears collected 12 errorless kills in 27 swings (.444) in the deciding game to put the Jayhawks away. Meanwhile, Kansas managed just nine kills and hit .222 in game five. Both teams struggled to find much of an offensive rhythm in game one; Baylor hit .192 as a team to KU's .158. Kansas then lit it up in game two, attacking at a .405 rate in game two with 19 kills and only two errors in 42 swings. Baylor reversed that trend in the third, attacking .370 and holding KU to a .174 clip. The Bears out-attacked Kansas .231 to .130 in game four, but four service errors and a pair of ball handling errors spelled doom and forced a fifth game. In the fifth, Baylor jumped out to a 6-2 lead and never looked back. Kansas pulled to within two points on three occasions, but the Jayhawks could get no closer. Stevie Nicholas finished with four errorless kills in six attempts during game five, while Laura Daniela Lloreda had four digs.

SCHWARTZ STAYS HOT AGAINST TEXAS TECH
After junior MB/OH Tisha Schwartz became the sixth member of Baylor's 30-kill club last Saturday at Iowa State, she turned up the heat Wednesday against Texas Tech. The Amarillo, Texas, native tallied 21 kills, 17 digs and three blocks, and hit .390 on the night. Schwartz, who established a career high for digs against Tech, has recorded at least 10 kills in 12 of her last 13 matches with nine Oct. 2 against Texas. She has reached the 20-kill plateau in four of her last five matches, all four-gamers, and is averaging 5.83 kills per game during that time.

LLOREDA SERVES BIG IN FIRST MATCH BACK
Although junior RS Laura Daniela Lloreda returned to the court two weeks ago after missing eight matches due to a grade-three ankle sprain, Wednesday's match against Texas Tech was the first in which she has served since Aug. 31 at Long Beach State. Lloreda blistered Tech for five service aces, her second five-ace match of the season. In the four matches in which she has served (she has played five matches in the libero position), Lloreda has 13 service aces for an average of 0.93 per game. ... Meanwhile, Baylor has recorded at least one service ace in 49 consecutive matches and at least two service aces in 18 straight matches. The last opponent to not allow a Baylor service ace was Texas A&M in a Nov. 15, 2000 match at College Station.

SCHWARTZ JOINS 30-KILL CLUB
Junior OH Tisha Schwartz became the seventh player in school history to record 30 or more kills in a match last Saturday at Iowa State. The Amarillo, Texas, native tallied 32 kills against the Cyclones, tied for the seventh-best total in school history. That total also ties for the second-best four-game performance in Baylor history, just two shy of Elisha Polk's 34 at Oklahoma in 1997. Stevie Nicholas holds the school mark with eight 30-kill matches, followed by Polk with six, Kia Young with two. Jana Ranly and Heather Williams also recorded one 30-kill match.

DIG THIS: BEARS REACH CENTURY MARK
Baylor tallied 107 digs last Saturday at Iowa State, marking the first time the Bears have reached the century mark in digs since collecting 122 digs in a five-game match Oct. 21, 2000 at Texas Tech. The 107 digs ranks 12th in school history and is the fifth most by a Big 12 team since the NCAA adopted the 30-point scoring format last season. ... Junior RS/L Laura Daniela Lloreda and sophomore S Jillian Mazzarella tallied 24 digs each in the Iowa State match, marking the first time two Bears have reached the 20-dig plateau in the same match since Dana Atkinson had 36 and Stevie Nicholas had 29 in that 2000 match at Texas Tech. It was Mazzarella's second career 20-dig match and a career high. Lloreda reached the 20-dig plateau for the first time this season and for the fifth time in her career. ... Sophomore DS Kara Kennedy nearly doubled her career high for digs against Iowa State. With a previous best of eight, Kennedy collected 15 digs against the Cyclones.

BAYLOR IN THE BIG 12 STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Baylor finds itself in unusual territory statistically this season - not among the league leaders in kills and digs per game. The Bears have finished third or better in kills per game and fifth or better in digs per game in the Big 12 Conference in each of the past three seasons. According to the Oct. 7 statistical rankings, Baylor is seventh in kills per game (15.24) and eighth in digs per game (14.18). The Bears lead the conference with 2.09 service aces per game. However, Baylor ranks sixth in attacking percentage (.222), eighth in assists (13.69), 10th in blocks per game (2.10) and 11th in opponents' attacking percentage (.246). ... In conference matches, Baylor is second in digs per game (15.89).

SCHWARTZ RISING IN BIG 12 STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Junior OH Tisha Schwartz is steadily climbing the Big 12 Conference statistical rankings in both kills and points per game now that she is carrying the majority of the load for the Bears. According to the Oct. 7 rankings, Schwartz is third in kills per game (4.20) and fourth in points per game (4.98). ... Schwartz leads all players with 4.67 kills per game in Big 12 matches and is tied for third with 5.06 points per game in conference action.

NICHOLAS STILL LEADS BIG 12 IN THREE CATEGORIES
Despite being sidelined with a torn meniscus, junior OH Stevie Nicholas retains her leader position in the Big 12 Conference statistical rankings in three categories, according to the Oct. 7 rankings. Nicholas leads the conference in kills per game (5.45), service aces per game (0.95) and points per game (6.81). She has now been the conference kills leader in 35 of 36 weeks during her career. The gap in points per game between Nicholas and second-place Mira Topic of Texas more than one point per game as Topic is averaging 5.44. She and Tisha Schwartz are the only players in the conference to reach the 30-kill plateau this season.

BAYLOR WINS 17TH IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT
With team titles at the Baylor Classic and at the Rhode Island Classic, Baylor has claimed the program's 16th and 17th in-season tournament titles. Eleven of those titles have come during head coach Brian Hosfeld's tenure (since 1996). The Bears have won at least one in-season tournament in six of Hosfeld's seven seasons, claiming two such titles five times.

THREE BEARS EARN URI CLASSIC HONORS
Baylor juniors OH Stevie Nicholas, MB Tisha Schwartz and OH Lisa Smith were named to the all-tournament team at the Rhode Island Classic. Nicholas was selected as MVP, marking the fifth time in her career she has been named MVP at an in-season tournament. On the weekend, Nicholas hit .316 with 5.25 kills and 2.58 service aces per game and 12 service aces. Schwartz, meanwhile, averaged 4.50 kills per game on the weekend; she also hit at a .406 clip with 11 blocks and five service aces. Smith averaged 2.50 kills and 2.36 digs per game with two double-doubles on the weekend.

FOUR BEARS EARN BAYLOR CLASSIC HONORS
Junior OH Stevie Nicholas, junior MB Tisha Schwartz, sophomore S/DS Jillian Mazzarella and freshman S Emily Huston all earned all-tournament honors at the 2002 Baylor Classic. Nicholas and Schwartz were named co-MVPs. Nicholas averaged 5.10 kills, 1.10 srvice aces, 3.70 digs and 0.90 blocks per game on the weekend, totaling 67.5 points. Schwartz finished the weekend with 52.0 points and per-game averages of 4.00 kills, 1.60 digs and 1.50 blocks. Huston and Mazzarella paced the Bear offense to a .249 attacking percentage and 16.60 kills per game. Huston hit .600 for the weekend (20-2-30) with 2.00 kills, 5.90 assists, 1.70 digs and 0.60 blocks per game. Mazzarella hit .345 on the weekend (12-2-29) with 1.20 kills, 7.30 assists, 3.90 digs and 0.50 blocks per game.

BAYLORBEARS.COM
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.BaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches and audio broadcasts, is part of the Official Colles Sports Network. OCSN currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities, including eight Big 12 schools.

INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and the region. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox Sports Net Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18). KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, and it airs at 1 p.m. Wednesdays on FSN Southwest.

UP NEXT...
Baylor returns to Waco for its only home date in a four-match stretch. The Bears host No. 23 Missouri for 7 p.m. CDT match Wednesday, Oct. 16 at the Ferrell Center. Baylor swept the season series last year, winning in four games at Columbia and in five games to wrap up the regular season in Waco.