Sept. 18, 2003
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Baylor (6-6, 0-1 Big 12) at
Iowa State (7-4, 0-1)
When: Saturday, Sept. 20
Where: Hilton Coliseum; Ames, Iowa
Time: 7 p.m.
Baylor hits the road for the first time in Big 12 Conference play as it faces Iowa State tonight in Ames, Iowa, where the Bears have never lost in seven matches. In the last meeting between the two schools, Iowa State stunned Baylor, 3-0 in Waco, to snap a nine-game losing streak to the Bears. Both teams will be looking for their first conference win this season after dropping their openers on Wednesday night.
The Bears put up a fight against Missouri but fell, 3-1 (30-20, 30-11, 25-30, 33-31). Senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz led Baylor with 15 kills, while sophomore outside hitter Kelly Spriggs sparked the Bears off the bench with a season-high 13 kills.
Iowa State will be playing its conference home opener after losing to Texas on Wednesday in Austin, 3-0 (30-17, 30-22, 31-29). Brittany Dalager led the Cyclones with 12 kills. Baylor will jam three matches into next week as it travels to Huntsville for a non-conference match against Sam Houston State on Monday, before hosting 10th-ranked Kansas State on Wednesday. The Bears then hit the road again to battle Kansas next Saturday in Lawrence.
BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
Baylor claimed its second tournament title of the season by winning the Hampton Inn/JU Classic last weekend 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.
SCHWARTZ, NICHOLAS REWRITING RECORDBOOK
Senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz has moved into sixth place on Baylor's all-time kills list with 1,157 and has moved into ninth all-time with 289 total blocks. With 947 career digs, senior libero/outside hitter Stevie Nicholas needs only 53 more to become only the fifth player in Baylor history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for her career.
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.
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 1.02 blocks per game, trailing fellow freshman Desiree Guilliard-Young who is averaging 1.26. The Bears had a season-high 16 blocks as a team in the match against the Cougars and have at least 10 blocks in seven of their 12 matches.
TOPPING 20
Senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz has recorded at least 20 kills in five 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 11 of 12 matches. Freshman outside hitter Andrea Vakulya has the most kills by any other Bear with 19 against Wyoming and also added 12 digs for her second-straight double-double, the first two of her collegiate career.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
Senior libero/outside hitter Stevie Nicholas has recorded double-digit digs in seven of the 12 matches, including a season-high 17 against Houston on Aug. 29. She has also recorded 16 digs in three of the last four matches. Nicholas leads the team with 141 digs, while senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz is second with 111. Three other Bears, freshman outside hitter Andrea Vakulya, sophomore setter Emily Huston and sophomore outside hitter Stella Odion each topped the 100 mark for the season Wednesday against Missouri.
HEAVY HITTERS
Baylor hit a season high .451 in last Saturday night's victory over Jacksonville, including 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 4-1 this season when hitting better than .250.
TOUGH COMPETITION
Baylor has a tough 2003 slate, facing three teams currently ranked in the top 10 and two others 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. 10 Kansas State and Texas A&M, which received the most votes by a team not in the top 25. Baylor also has one match left on the road against Missouri, which received the third-most votes by a team not in the top 25.
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.
