Sept. 23, 2003
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#9 Kansas State (12-2, 2-0 Big 12)
at Baylor (8-6, 1-1)
When: Wednesday, Sept. 24
Where: Ferrell Center
Time: 7 p.m.
Baylor has won five of its last seven matches coming into tonight's Big 12 Conference matchup with No. 9 Kansas State.
The Bears have won their last two matches, claiming victories on the road against Iowa State on Saturday and Sam Houston State on Monday. The Wildcats come into Waco riding a 12-match winning streak after dropping their first two matches of the season against No. 2 Hawai'i and No. 3 Florida.
Kansas State has won the last four meetings between the two schools, while holding an 11-4 overall advantage and a 5-2 mark in Waco.
Baylor hits the road again this weekend as they continue Big 12 play against Kansas on Saturday in Lawrence, marking the Bears' fourth-straight weekend road trip.
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 1,187 and has moved into ninth all-time with 293 total blocks. With 972 career digs, senior libero/outside hitter Stevie Nicholas needs only 28 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 1.27...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 14 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 13 of 14 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 nine of the 14 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 166 digs, while senior outside hitter Tisha Schwartz is second with 130. 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 on Sept. 17 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 6-1 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. 7 Nebraska, No. 9 Kansas State and No. 25 Texas A&M. 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, including a pair for the final two points of game two. Sophomore setter Emily Huston 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 as the Bears had 11 as a team. Odion, who had three aces against the Bearkats, served 10-straight points for Baylor in game three...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.
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.
