Oct. 14, 2003
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Baylor (10-10, 2-5 Big 12) at
Texas Tech (8-8, 0-7 Big 12)
When: Wednesday, Oct. 15
Where: United Spirit Arena; Lubbock, Texas
Time: 7 p.m.
Baylor hits the road to battle Texas Tech on Wednesday in Lubbock, before a stretch in which it will face three nationally-ranked opponents in a row: No. 8 Nebraska and No. 22 Texas A&M at home and No. 8 Kansas State on the road.
The Bears have lost four straight in Big 12 play, while the Red Raiders are off to an 0-7 start. Baylor is 4-3 on the road this season, while Texas Tech is 0-3 at home. Baylor lost to Colorado, 3-0, at home in its last match, while Texas Tech lost to Texas A&M, 3-0, in College Station.
The two teams split last year's meetings, with each team winning at home. Prior to that, Texas Tech had won three straight after Baylor won three straight.
UPSET SPECIAL
The Sept. 24 victory over No. 9 Kansas State was the biggest upset in school history. Prior to that win, the highest ranked team the Bears had ever beaten was No. 10 Texas A&M on Nov. 9, 1996...Baylor's last victory over a ranked opponent was on Oct. 25, 2000 against No. 23 Kansas State. Of the Bears' nine victories all-time against ranked teams, four have been against the Wildcats...Head coach Brian Hosfeld has raised the bar for success in his seven-plus seasons at the helm of the program. Hosfeld boasts eight of the Bears' nine victories over ranked opponents and the only two victories over top 10 opponents in school history.
MILLENNIUM MILESTONE
Senior libero Stevie Nicholas became only the fifth player in Baylor history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for her career with her sixth dig early in game two against Kansas on Sept. 27. She joined Elisha Polk (1996-99), Heather Williams (1989-92), Jenny DeLue (1990-93) and Cory Sivertson (1991-94)...Nicholas currently ranks fourth on the all-time kills list with 1,432 and has moved up to eighth with 1,052 digs, passing Erin McElwain (1992-95) against Oklahoma on Oct. 1.
HEAVY HITTERS
Baylor hit a season high .451 in the victory over Jacksonville on Sept. 13, the third-highest attacking percentage in Baylor history. The match included a .714 performance from freshman middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young (11-1-14) and .667 from freshman middle blocker Nicole LeBlanc (12-0-18), who led the team for the first time this season with 12 kills. The Bears are 7-1 this season when hitting better than .250.
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE
In the Oct. 5 victory over Alcorn State, the Bears held the Braves to a -.114 attack percentage for the match, the lowest opponent attack percentage in Baylor history. The Braves hit for a negative percentage in all three games, including a match-low -.222 in game two...The 47 points scored by Alcorn State was also the lowest ever point total by a Baylor opponent...Prior to this season, Baylor had held an opponent to fewer than 15 points in a game only once. The 2003 Bears have now accomplished the feat three times, the first against Jacksonville in game three on Sept. 13 and twice against Alcorn State.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
Baylor has outdug its opponents 11 times this season and are 9-2 in those matches, including the Sept. 24 upset of No. 9 Kansas State.The Bears had 82 digs compared to only 59 for the Wildcats, marking the largest dig differential of the season for the Bears...Senior libero/outside hitter Stevie Nicholas, who leads the team with 3.15 digs per game, has recorded double-digit digs in 14 of the 20 matches, including a season-high 22 against Kansas State. Nicholas now has 1,052 digs for her career and has moved into eighth place all-time at Baylor. Senior outside Tisha Schwartz also added a career-high 21 digs to the effort against the Wildcats.
SERVING 'EM UP
Baylor had a season-high 12 service aces in the Sept. 20 victory over Iowa State, all in the last three games. The only game the Bears lost in the match was the first, when they had no aces and six service errors...Sophomore outside hitter Stella Odion had a career-high five aces, including a pair for the final two points of game two. Sophomore setter Emily Huston, who ranks fifth in the league in aces, punctuated the night with an ace on match point...Huston then had a career-high six aces, the most by a Bear this season, against Sam Houston State on Monday and the Bears had 11 as a team. Odion, who had three aces against the Bearkats, served 10-straight points for Baylor in game three...The Bears are 9-4 when recording more than five aces and 1-6 when posting five aces or fewer.
BLOCK PARTY
Freshman middle blocker Nicole LeBlanc recorded 12 total blocks (3 solo) in the Sept. 10 victory over Houston. It was the first double-digit block total by a Bear since Tisha Schwartz had 10 against Kansas on Sept. 27, 2000. It was also the first career double-double for LeBlanc, who added 10 kills. LeBlanc is second on the team with 0.99 blocks per game, trailing fellow freshman Desiree Guilliard-Young who ranks second in the Big 12 with 1.32 blocks per game...The Bears had a season-high 16 blocks as a team in the match against the Cougars and have at least 10 blocks in 10 of their 20 matches.
TOPPING 20
Senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz has recorded at least 20 kills in seven matches this season, including a season-high 26 against Ole Miss on Aug. 30 and 25 against Wyoming on Sept. 13 in Jacksonville. She has recorded double-digit kills in 18 of 20 matches and moved up to fifth on Baylor's all-time list against Alcorn State on Oct. 5. Sophomore outside hitter Kelly Spriggs is the only other Bear to post 20 kills this season, slamming a career-high 20 against No. 9 Kansas State on Sept. 24. Freshman outside hitter Andrea Vakulya came close with 19 against Wyoming on Sept. 13.
SPRIGGS SPRINGS OFF THE BENCH
Sophomore outside hitter Kelly Spriggs hammered a career-high 20 kills in the Sept. 24 upset of No. 9 Kansas State. Spriggs has been a sparkplug off the bench for the Bears with double-digit kills in six of the last seven matches and led the team or tied for the team lead in kills against Kansas State, Kansas and Colorado.
TOUGH COMPETITION
Baylor has a difficult 2003 slate, facing four teams currently ranked in the top 25, three in the top 10, and one other just outside the top 25. The Bears have lost to No. 2 Hawai'i and still have two matches left with No. 8 Nebraska and No. 22 Texas A&M. Baylor also has one match left on the road against No. 8 Kansas State and Missouri, which received the third-most votes by a team not in the top 25.
BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
Baylor claimed its second tournament title of the season by winning the Hampton Inn/JU Classic Sept. 12-13 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Bears also won the Baylor Classic Aug. 29-30 in Waco. Senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz was tabbed the Most Valuable Player of both tournaments. Freshman outside hitter Andrea Vakulya was named to the all-tournment team at the Hampton Inn/JU Classic, while sophomore setter Emily Huston and freshman middle blocker Nicole LeBlanc made the all-tournament team at the Baylor Classic.
INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS
"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.
