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BAYLOR
at
No. 4 NEBRASKA
7:00 p.m. CDT
Oct. 19, 2002
Nebraska Coliseum
Lincoln, Neb.
Baylor plays its second of three consecutive matches against ranked opponents Saturday, traveling to Lincoln, Neb., for a 7 p.m. CDT match at No. 4 Nebraska. The Bears (8-10, 2-6) dropped a 30-26, 30-15, 31-29 decision at home Wednesday to No. 22 Missouri. The Huskers (16-1, 8-0) extended their Big 12 record conference match winning streak to 68 Wednesday with a 30-14, 30-16, 30-19 victory at Oklahoma. Nebraska is ranked fourth nationally in both major polls - the AVCA/USA Today Coaches Poll and the Volleyball Magazine Top 20. Live stats and live audio for the match will be available at www.Huskers.com, the official website of Nebraska Athletics. Critically acclaimed radio personality John Baylor will provide play-by-play.
QUICK NOTES
* Baylor and Nebraska meet for the 14th time Saturday with the Huskers winning each of the previous 13 matches. Nebraska has lost just one game in the all-time series, a 30-28 loss in game one last year at Lincoln.
* Since moving to the outside hitter position Sept. 26, junior Tisha Schwartz has averaged 5.53 kills, 2.84 kills and 0.68 blocks per game.
* Freshman MB Alison Heffner, a former club player who joined the roster Sept. 26, led the Bears with six blocks last Wednesday against Texas Tech. That was a career best for Heffner, who is third on the team with 0.74 blocks per game.
* Junior OH Tisha Schwartz is essentially now leading the Big 12 in kills and points per game. At 4.39 and 5.15, respectively, Schwartz trails only teammate Stevie Nicholas, who is out for the season with a torn medial-meniscus, in both categories.
* Baylor has tallied at least one service ace in 51 consecutive matches and at least two service aces in 20 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 116-99 (.535) overall record and a 51-77 (.398) 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. MISSOURI
Like most coaches in the Big 12 Conference, Baylor head coach Brian Hosfeld has not had much luck against Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are 12-0 against Hosfeld-coached squads, winning 11 of the 12 meetings in three games. In fact, Nebraska is 112-9 all-time in Big 12 play, having suffered losses to only Colorado, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M. Colorado's Pi'i Aiu and Texas A&M's Laurie Corbelli are the only current Big 12 coaches to have ever beaten Nebraska.
LAST TIME OUT - No. 22 MISSOURI 3, BAYLOR 0
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. 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. 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 NEBRASKA SERIES
The history between Baylor and Nebraska is a short one -- the Cornhuskers have won all 13 matches in the series, dropping just one game along the way. Nebraska swept the season series last year, winning in three games in Waco and in four games at Lincoln. Baylor won game one at Nebraska Coliseum 30-28; the Bears are the only team to have won a game at Nebraska in a regular season match since Southern Cal took two games in the first match of the 2000 season. The teams first met Sept. 22, 1995 in Lincoln as a part of the Arby's Classic.
THE NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
Nebraska (16-1) is in its third season under the direction of head coach John Cook. He is 343-76 in 10 years as a collegiate head coach with a near-perfect 81-3 mark at Nebraska.
NU Notes: The Huskers are ranked fourth nationally in both major polls - the AVCA/USA Today Coaches Poll and the Volleyball Magazine Top 20. Nebraska moved up one spot from No. 5 in this week's polls. ... The lone blemish on the Huskers record this season is a 30-26, 30-19, 32-30 defeat Sept. 2 against Southern Cal, which has been ranked No. 1 nationally for the past four weeks. Since then, Nebraska has won 14 straight, dropping one game at then-No. 11 Arizona and one game at then-No. 25 Texas A&M along the way. ... Nebraska leads the Big 12 Conference in nearly every statistical category, according to the Oct. 17 statistical rankings. The Huskers are first in attacking percentage (.311), opponents' attacking percentage (.113), blocks (3.58 per game) and service aces (2.02). Nebraska also ranks third in assists (14.55), third in kills (16.45) and tied for fourth in digs (15.55). ... Three of the top six and four of the top 10 attackers in the Big 12 this season wear the Husker scarlet and cream. Freshman MB Melissa Elmer is second in the conference at .385, followed by senior MB Amber Holmquist at .361 (fourth), senior S Greichaly Cepero at .357 (sixth) and senior OH Laura Pilakowski at .336 (10th). Pilakowski, a two-time all-American, is eighth in the Big 12 with 3.81 kills per game. Cepero, also a two-time all-American, is third in the conference in assists (12.32) and blocks (1.20). Elmer is fifth in the Big 12 with 1.15 blocks per game, and senior L/S Lindsay Wischmeier is third in the conference with 3.58 digs per game. ... Holmquist prepped at Alief Hastings HS in Houston, Texas, while freshman MB Nicole Westerterp is a graduate of West Brook HS in Beaumont, Texas.
BAYLOR VS. RANKED TEAMS
The Bears' match against Nebraska will mark the 117th time Baylor has played a nationally ranked team since the national poll was established in 1982. Baylor is 8-109 in such matches; the Bears are 0-2 this season against ranked opponents with losses to then-No. 5 Long Beach State (Aug. 31) and Wednesday to No. 22 Missouri. The Bears last victory over a ranked team was a five-game decision Oct. 25, 2000 against then-No. 23 Kansas State. Baylor enjoyed its best season against ranked competition during the 1999 campaign, going 5-6 that season. The Bears are 7-56 against ranked opponents under head coach Brian Hosfeld.
LAST MEETING - No. 2 NEBRASKA 3, BAYLOR 1 (NOV. 17, 2001)
LINCOLN, Neb. - After becoming the first team in more than a year to take a game off Nebraska in a regular season match on its home court, Baylor's women's volleyball team dropped a 28-30, 30-26, 30-26, 30-19 decision to the No. 2 Cornhuskers. Stevie Nicholas led all players with 16 kills, but she also committed 18 errors for an attacking percentage of negative .032. Tisha Schwartz had the best all-around night for the Bears, putting down 11 kills and seven blocks with a .333 attacking percentage. As a team, the Bears hit .062 and committed a season-high 50 attacking errors. However, Nebraska was not very sharp either, hitting a season-low .175. That figure was helped immensely by an 18-5-33 (.394) attack in the fourth game. The game one triumph was Baylor's first against Nebraska in 13 meetings, snapping a 36-game winning streak by the Huskers in the series. It also marked the first time since the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament that Nebraska lost a game on its home court. Going into the night, the Huskers had swept 23 consecutive regular season home matches with 72 straight game victories.
SCHWARTZ WARMING TO THE OUTSIDE
Since moving to the outside hitter position Sept. 26, junior Tisha Schwartz has become one of the top scoring threats in the Big 12 Conference. In that time, she has averaged 5.53 kills per game, even better than Stevie Nicholas' 5.45 per-game average. Schwartz has also averaged 2.84 digs and 0.68 blocks per game in seven matches on the outside wtih 148.0 points.
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. 17 statistical rankings, Baylor is eighth in kills per game (15.12) and seventh in digs per game (14.22). The Bears are second in the conference with 1.97 service aces per game. However, Baylor ranks seventh in attacking percentage (.221), eighth in assists (13.59), ninth in blocks (2.13) and 11th in opponents' attacking percentage (.246). ... In conference matches, Baylor is fifth in digs per game (15.41).
SCHWARTZ NOW TOP BIG 12 OFFENSIVE THREAT
Junior OH Tisha Schwartz has essentially become the top scoring threat in the Big 12 Conference as she trails on teammate Stevie Nicholas, who is out for the season with a torn medial-meniscus, in both kills and points per game. According to the Oct. 17 rankings, Schwartz is second in kills (4.39 per game) and points (5.15). ... Schwartz leads all players with 4.96 kills and 5.43 points per game in Big 12 matches. ... Sophomore S Jillian Mazzarella averages 3.11 digs per game in conference matches, tied for seventh in the league rankings.
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.
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. 14 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 36 of 37 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 5.21. She and Tisha Schwartz are the only players in the conference to reach the 30-kill plateau this season.
MAZZARELLA NOTCHES FIRST TRIPLE-DOUBLE
With 10 kills, 37 assists and 15 digs Sept. 26 against Houston, sophomore S Jillian Mazzarella posted the first triple-double of her career. It was also the first triple-double by a Bear since Tatiana Kenon had 18 kills, 11 digs and 10 blocks Oct. 27 against Colorado. Mazzarella's 10 kills were a career-high, doubling the five she had against Arkansas-Little Rock earlier 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 service 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 plays its fourth consecutive match against a team that is at least receiving votes in the AVCA/USA Today Coaches Poll next Wednesday, hosting No. 24 Texas A&M for a 7 p.m. CDT match at the Ferrell Center. The Aggies swept the season series last year, winning in three games at both venues. Texas A&M has won five straight against the Bears and lead the all-time series 37-7.
