Oct. 16, 2002
Final Stats
WACO, Texas - Tisha Schwartz tallied 15 kills, and Stella Odion hit .381 with five blocks, but it was not enough as Baylor volleyball dropped a 30-26, 30-15, 31-29 decision to No. 22 Missouri here Wednesday night. The Bears fall to 8-10 overall and 2-6 in Big 12 Conference play. The Tigers jump to 16-3 and 6-2.
Baylor found little answer for a balanced Missouri attack that featured three players with at least 10 kills. Shen Danru led all players with 17 kills, hitting .389 on the night. Christi Myers added 14 kills with a .500 attacking percentage, and Mary Lauren Smith chipped in with 10 kills.
"Missouri is the best team we've seen in the Big 12 so far," Baylor head coach Brian Hosfeld said. "We haven't seen Nebraska. We haven't seen Texas A&M. They served the ball incredibly tough; they gave us plenty of problems there. We competed well in the first game. They just had a couple of hot hitters we weren't able to slow down, and in the second game we just let our frustrations get the best of us."
Baylor played the Tigers tight in game one, pulling to within two points at 25-23 after trailing by as much as seven points on two occasions. However, Missouri built its lead back up to four points and then played side-out volleyball the rest of the way for the victory.
Game two was all Missouri as the Tiger hits .448 (16-3-29) as a team and held Baylor to a .000 clip (7-7-25). The 15 points scored by the Bears tied Baylor's lowest point total in a 30-game match. The Bears were held to 15 points in the first game of their match at Kansas State last season before forcing the match to five games.
The Bears rebounded with a stronger showing in game three, hitting .233 and holding Missouri to .227. The Tigers built an early edge and led by as much five points on four occasions. Trailing 20-15, though, Baylor scored 10 of the next 15 points to tie the game at 25-25. The teams swapped points for the next seven points before Missouri recaptured the lead on a Schwartz attack error. Myers put the match away with a service ace, the 10th of the night for Missouri.
Schwartz was the only Bear to reach double figures in kills; she also had seven digs, one service ace and two blocks. Odion finished with nine kills and seven digs.
The road gets no easier for the Bears as they travel to Lincoln, Neb., this weekend. Baylor faces No. 4 Nebraska at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Huskers swept the season series last year. However, Baylor did win a game at Nebraska, becoming the only team to do so in a regular season match since the beginning of the 2000 season.
