Sept. 7, 2002

Box Score

WACO, Texas - Stevie Nicholas put away 23 kills and Jillian Mazzarella had a career-high 22 digs as Baylor defeated Texas-Arlington 30-21, 33-31, 21-30, 30-25 here Saturday in the final match of the Baylor Classic.

Baylor improves to 3-3 on the season. The Bears moved to 32-10 all-time in the Baylor Classic and claimed their sixth team title in this, the 12th edition. UTA falls to 3-3 and finished second in the Classic.

Nicholas and Tisha Schwartz were honored as co-MVPs of the tournament. Baylor also placed Mazzarella and Emily Huston on the all-tournament team, along with Amber Pack and Carol Bozikis of UTA, and Ivana Kuzmic of Arkansas-Little Rock.

With the score tied 15-15 in game one, Stella Odion served the Bears to seven consecutive points. UTA never again got to within six points as Baylor coasted to the 30-21 victory. Baylor hit .314 as a team in the opener, holding the Mavs to a .023 team attacking percentage.

Baylor found itself against the ropes in game two, trailing 29-27. However, the Bears scored six of the next eight points for the 33-31 triumph. An Elizabeth Davis service error and a Melissa Robinett attack error gave the Bears the victory.

However, UTA answered strong in game three, holding the Baylor attack to a .086 percentage. Meanwhile, the Mavs hit .342 in game three for the 30-21 win. But Baylor's defense, which included 67 digs and 11.0 team blocks on the day, returned in the fourth game. The Bears held UTA's attack to a .167 percentage en route to the 30-25 victory.

Schwartz added 11 kills and seven blocks. Huston had nine kills and hit .571 on the match with 18 assists, six digs and four blocks. Odion chipped in with 11 digs and three bocks, while Nicholas finished with three service aces, 13 digs and four blocks.

Pack and Bozikis led the UTA attack with 17 kills and 15 kills, respectively. Pack also had 18 digs and two blocks, while Bozikis tallied 10 digs. Caley Smith added 12 kills and hit .333, while Robinett had 10 kills and six blocks.

In the first match of the day, Arkansas-Little Rock defeated Mississippi 35-33, 20-30, 24-30, 30-19, 15-6. The Lady Trojans finished 1-2 on the weekend, while Mississippi was winless in three matches.

Baylor returns to action next weekend at the Rhode Island Invitational in Kingston, R.I. The Bears face host Rhode Island at 6 p.m. CDT Friday, with Saturday matches against Northeastern at 11:30 a.m. and Utah State at 3:30 p.m.