Sept. 22, 2003

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Baylor (7-6, 1-1 Big 12) at
Sam Houston State (4-5, 1-1 Southland)

When: Monday, Sept. 22
Where: Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum; Huntsville, Texas
Time: 7 p.m.

Baylor is getting set for a busy week with three matches in the next six days. After returning from Iowa State on Sunday, the Bears turn around and hit the road again on Monday to take on Sam Houston State in Huntsville.

Baylor has won the last three meetings against SHSU, but the two teams have not met since Nov. 10, 1998, when the Bears won in three in Waco. Baylor is looking to snap the program's eight-game losing streak to SHSU in Huntsville. The Bears' last victory in Huntsville was on Oct. 16, 1981.

Baylor returns to Big 12 Conference play by hosting No. 10 Kansas State on Wednesday night, before hitting the road again to face Kansas on Saturday night in Lawrence. The Bears split their first two conference matches of the season last week, dropping a four-game decision to Missouri at home last Wednesday. Baylor the picked up its first Big 12 victory of the season on the road against Iowa State in four games on Saturday.

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.

SCHWARTZ, NICHOLAS REWRITING RECORDBOOK
Senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz has moved into sixth place on Baylor's all-time kills list with 1,174 and has moved into ninth all-time with 291 total blocks...With 958 career digs, senior libero/outside hitter Stevie Nicholas needs only 42 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 1.04 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 12 of 13 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 eight of the 13 matches, including a season-high 17 against Houston on Aug. 29. She has also recorded 16 digs in three of the last five matches...Nicholas leads the team with 152 digs, while senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz is second with 124. 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 last Wednesday against Missouri.

HEAVY HITTERS
Baylor hit a season high .451 in the victory over Jacksonville on Sept. 13, 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 5-1 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.

SERVING 'EM UP
Baylor had a season-high 12 service aces in Saturday's 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, the most by a Bear this season, including a pair for the final two points of game two. Sophomore setter Emily Huston punctuated the night with an ace on match point...In a victory over Houston on Sept. 10, Baylor scored 19 points on senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz's serve, including four-straight points on three occasion in the final two games. Schwartz finished the night with a career-high four aces. Huston also matched her career-high with four against Ole Miss on Aug. 30.

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.