Sept. 11, 2003
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Fresh off a 3-1 road victory over Houston on Wednesday night, the Baylor volleyball team turns right around and hits the road for Jacksonville, Fla., where they will compete in the Hampton Inn/JU Classic on Friday and Saturday...Baylor kicks off the tournament against Florida International on Friday at 4 p.m. The Bears will then face Wyoming for the second time this season on Saturday at 11 a.m., followed by host Jacksonville at 8 p.m...Baylor begins Big 12 Conference play next Wednesday by hosting Missouri, then travels Iowa State on Saturday.
Block Party
Freshman middle blocker Nicole LeBlanc recorded 12 total blocks (3 solo) in Wednesday night's 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. LeBlanc now leads the team with 1.23 blocks per game. The Bears had season-high 16 blocks as a team in the match against the Cougars and had at least 10 for the fifth time this season in eight matches.
Serving 'em up
Baylor scored 19 points when senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz was serving in Wednesday night's victory over Houston. Schwartz came up big late as she served four-straight points toward the end of pivotal game three and twice served four-straight points in the fourth game. Schwartz had four aces on the night.
Aston Imua Wahine Challenge
Facing top-flight competition, Baylor dropped three straight matches at the Ninth Aston Imua Wahine Challenge, hosted by the University of Hawaii and held in Honolulu Sept. 4-6. In their first match, perennial powerhouse Pacific came away with a 32-30, 30-27, 24-30, 30-28 win. Baylor outhit Pacific on the night, .293 to .239, and the Bears led the Tigers in attacking percentage in three of the four games. Desiree Guilliard-Young (14-2-24, .500) led three Bears who hit over .400 on the evening. Tisha Schwartz topped the Bears with 21 kills, hitting .275. Pacific's three-time AVCA All-American, Jennifer Joines, led all players with 24 kills and hit .314 on the night. As a team, the Bears' .293 attacking percentage was their highest of the season, but Pacific's .239 pace was also the highest the Bears have allowed this year.
On Friday, the strong attack of No. 2 Hawai'i proved too much for Baylor as the hosting Rainbow Wahine beat the Bears 30-16, 30-20, 30-26. A crowd of 6,386 fans saw Baylor give Hawai'i a fight throughout all three games. On the night, the Rainbow Wahine hit a astonishing .485 as a team, while Baylor was held to its lowest attacking percentage of the season at .184. Baylor managed more points against Hawai'i (62) than did No. 6 Minnesota (30-20, 30-18, 30-18) or No. 22 Louisville (30-17, 30-24, 30-18) earlier this season.
Baylor never got in sync Saturday night and fell to Wichita State in four games, 30-24, 25-30, 30-21, 30-23. Guilliard-Young finished the night with seven kills in 13 attempts for a .462 clip, but had just four attempts over the final two games. Schwartz led all players with 17 kills, and Emily Huston added a double-double with 36 assists and 11 digs.
Big 12 Coaches Tab Bears to Finish Eighth
The Big 12 Conference volleyball coaches picked Baylor to finish eighth in the league's 2003 preseason poll. Defending Big 12 Champion Nebraska was picked to finish first, receiving six of the 11 first-place votes. Texas came in second, with Kansas State just one point back in third. Texas A&M and Missouri tied for fourth, followed by Kansas in sixth and Colorado in seventh place. Baylor slotted in the eighth spot, with Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Iowa State rounding out the 11-team field.
Nebraska and Texas A&M also dominated the preseason all-conference squads, with each team receiving two places on the six-person team. Nebraska's Anna Schrad and Kansas State's Lauren Goehring were named co-preseason players of the year. Colorado's Ashley Nu'u was tabbed preseason freshman of the year, and Texas' Darium Acevedo, a sophomore transfer from Oregon, was named preseason newcomer of the year.
Influx of Talent Quick to Contribute
Seven new players dot the Bears' 2003 roster. Four transfers and three freshmen are joining the six returning players from a year ago. Among the four transfers, two hail from Hungary (Eszter Kovacs and Andrea Vakulya), one comes from Brazil (Adeline Meira) and one is returning home to Texas after spending a year at Southeastern Louisiana (Maggie Chlebana).
True freshman Nicole LeBlanc excelled in her first taste of collegiate volleyball, hitting .380 (42-7-92) in her first four matches and earning all-tournament honors. She ranks second on the team in attacking percentage (.301) and leads the team with 1.23 blocks per game. Vakulya, meanwhile, ranks fourth on the team in kills (52) and is fourth in attempts (164) and fifth in digs (70).
Bears Among Big 12 Stat Leaders
Three Bears rank among the Big 12 individual statistical leaders, through matches of Sept. 5: Desiree Guilliard-Young: 5th in blocks per game (1.22)
Emily Huston: 6th in assists per game (11.59), 7th in service aces per game (0.48)
Tisha Schwartz: 4th in kills per game (4.78)
Nicholas, Schwartz Rewriting Recordbook
Seniors Stevie Nicholas and Tisha Schwartz have already made their places in the Baylor recordbooks, having earned spots on the 25th Anniversary Team released last year. But their places are becoming even more solid as they continue to make their ways up the charts in several statistical categories...Nicholas and Schwartz each rank among the top 10 players in Baylor history in career kills, attack percentage and attempts. Nicholas also is among the career leaders in service aces and is threatening to crack the top 10 in digs. Schwartz, meanwhile, is just outside the top 10 in career blocks.
It's In Their Blood
As might be expected, a number of this year's Bears have sports -- volleyball or otherwise -- in their blood: Senior Stevie Nicholas' entire family seems to have excelled in athletics. Her father, Steve, wrestled at Oregon State, while her mother, DeAnne, competed in the high jump at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Those genes were passed along to both Stevie and her sister, Sunny, who lettered four years in volleyball at Baylor (1998-2001) and was named to the Bears' 25th Anniversary Team last season. Sophomore Maggie Chlebana's mother Marian played collegiate basketball at Florida State, while her sisters Sarah and Julia each played volleyball at Cal State Sacramento. Sarah is now an assistant coach at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Freshman Eszter Kovacs' brother David played basketball at the University of Miskolc in Hungary, the same school from which Eszter transferred to Baylor. Newcomer Kristen Schramek has a pair of cousins with excellent collegiate resumes. Mark Schramek played baseball at Texas-San Antonio and was a first-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds in 2002, while Mark's brother Chad played quarterback at Sam Houston State. Rookie Casey Schuur's father, Robert, played football and rugby at Stanford, and Casey's mother Martha was a professional tennis player. Transfer Andrea Vakulya's brother Gabor played volleyball for the City of Szeged team in the Vakulya's native Hungary.
New Faces on Coaching Staff
Head coach Brian Hosfeld added three new faces to his coaching staff for the 2003 season. Hungarian native Jozsef Forman comes to Waco from overseas, where he has over 10 years of experience, including four years as head coach of the Hungarian Women's Senior National Team. Forman spent his last four years as head coach and general manager of the NRK-NYIREGYHAZA Club, the top club team in Hungary each of the past three years (2000, 2001, 2002). Sarah McFarland, a two-time all-American at Loyola Marymount, has also joined the coaching ranks. McFarland earned four letters at LMU (1997-2000) and became the first two-time all-American in her program's history. A three-time all-West Coast Conference selection, she led the nation in kills twice and set an NCAA record with 7.78 kills per game in 2000. Volunteer assistant coach Kevin Wray returns to Baylor as an assistant this fall after having spent four years as a manager for the team while completing his degree. While at Baylor, Wray also led the men's club volleyball team to its top finish ever, an 11th-place national finish in 2001. He has won two gold medals coaching Junior Olympics teams and has spent time with several different club teams.
Head Coach Brian Hosfeld
Baylor is in its eighth season under the direction of head coach Brian Hosfeld. During his tenure, the Bears have compiled a 121-114 (.515) overall record and a 51-89 (.364) mark in the rugged Big 12 Conference...Hosfeld is credited with putting Baylor volleyball on the map. After losing campaigns in 14 of 18 seasons prior to Hosfeld's arrival, Baylor has finished above .500 in four of the last seven seasons. Baylor has made two NCAA Tournament appearances in that span, 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.
O Captain, My Captain
Seniors Stevie Nicholas and Tisha Schwartz are serving as team co-captains in 2003. The pair are the only two seniors on a squad that does not include any juniors. Nicholas and Schwartz are each in the fourth seasons at Baylor and have each been named all-Big 12 (Nicholas in 2000 and 2001, Schwartz in 2002).
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 College Sports Network. OCSN currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities. Live scoring updates are available on BaylorBears.com for selected Baylor games.
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.
