Volleyball Set to Battle Texas Tech at Home
10/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 12, 2004
Baylor-Texas Tech Notes
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Baylor (9-8, 3-5 Big 12) will be at home for back-to-back matches for the first time this season starting with Texas Tech (6-7, 2-5) tonight, followed by a non-conference tilt against Northwestern (La.) State Saturday afternoon.
The Bears took care of Iowa State, 3-1, in their last match Saturday, coming back from a 28-20 deficit in game three to win the frame and go on to victory on the road. Texas Tech was off Saturday and was swept by Texas in their last match Oct. 6 at home.
Baylor is led by sophomores Nicole LeBlanc, who is averaging 3.22 kills per game, and Desiree Guilliard-Young, who is hitting .356 and averaging 1.30 blocks per game. Texas Tech is led by senior Kelly Johnson, who is averaging 3.77 kills per game.
After the homestand, the Bears will wrap up the first half of Big 12 Conference play by facing No. 16 Kansas State on the road.
QUICK SETS...
Junior outside hitter Kelly Spriggs has three straight double-digit kill matches off the bench...Freshman libero Kristen Schramek has recorded 10 digs or more in each of the last seven matches...Sophomore middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young registered the first 10-block match of her career Saturday at Iowa State...Junior setter Emily Huston moved up to third on the all-time assist list and ninth on the all-time service aces list Saturday at Iowa State.
BLOCK PARTY...
Baylor has dominated the blocking category, outblocking its opponents in 14 of 17 matches and only recording fewer than eight blocks twice...Baylor has registered double-digit blocks in 10 of the last 13 matches, including a season-high 18.0 Saturday at Iowa State...The Bears are outblocking their opponents with 3.14 to 1.89 blocks per game...Baylor is one of only three Big 12 teams (Texas A&M, Nebraska) to sport three players with at least 1.00 block per game: junior Adeline Meira (1.69), sophomore Desiree Guilliard-Young (1.30) and sophomore Nicole LeBlanc (1.05)...Guilliard-Young registered the first 10-block match of her career Saturday at Iowa State, while Meira has accomplished the feat twice this season.
SERVING IT UP...
Baylor ranks sixth in the Big 12 Conference with 1.63 service aces per game, and junior setter Emily Huston is second in the league individually with 0.55 per game and sophomore right-side hitter Nicole LeBlanc is seventh with 0.42 per game...Huston recorded the 100th ace of her career against Sam Houston State Sept. 11 and ranks ninth all-time at Baylor with 109...Aces have been a telling statistic this season as the Bears are 7-1 when they have more aces and 2-7 when they have equal or fewer.
HITTING THE FLOOR WITH SCHRAM...
Redshirt freshman Kristen Schramek has recorded double-digit digs in the last seven matches, including a career-high 22 Oct. 6 at No. 5 Nebraska...Schramek has started the last six matches at libero, seven overall this season, and has posted double-digit digs each time...She now has double figure digs in 11 of the 17 matches this year and has recorded five digs or fewer only twice...Schramek ranks sixth in the Big 12 with 3.82 digs per game in league matches only and is the only Bear averaging more than three digs per game for the season (3.03).
EM MOVES UP CHARTS...
Junior setter Emily Huston passed Sharon Pratt for third on Baylor's all-time assists list Saturday at Iowa State...At 2,743 assists, Huston still has a way to go to challenge the marks of Dana Chuha (4,955) and Cory Sivertson (4,846)...With two more aces Saturday, Huston also passed Sarah Sivertson for ninth all-time at Baylor and is only one behind Jenny DeLue for eighth...Huston is only five aces from the top five and 15 behind Stevie Nicholas at fourth.
YOUTH MOVEMENT...
The Baylor roster has no seniors, a void left by two of the best players to come through the program, outside hitters Tisha Schwartz and Stevie Nicholas...What the Bears do have is a host of juniors and redshirts who have been together for three seasons. Junior setter Emily Huston and junior outside hitter Stella Odion have played two full seaons, and junior outside hitter Kelly Spriggs has seen a lot of action in her one-and-a-half seasons...Sophomore middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young and right-side hitter Nicole LeBlanc are coming off tremendous rookie campaigns in which both were among the Big 12 leaders in attacking percentage and blocks. Redshirts Kristen Schramek and Adeline Meira have been solid so far in their first seasons and are looking to contribute even more after sitting out the 2003 campaign with injuries...All totaled, the Bears boast five juniors, two sophomores and five freshmen.
BALANCED ATTACK...
The Bears' offense has been much more spread out this season than in years past, as evidenced by the Sept. 22 victory over Oklahoma when five Bears recorded double-digit kills...Junior Stella Odion is second with 187 kills but leads the team with 547 attacks, while sophomore Nicole LeBlanc leads the team with 193 kills and is second with 488 attacks and Desiree Guilliard-Young is third at 183 kills and 371 attacks...Odion is set 24 percent of the time, LeBlanc - 21 percent, Guilliard-Young - 16 percent and Kelly Spriggs - 18 percent...Last season, Tisha Schwartz received 1,480 of Baylor's 5,089 attacks (29 percent), 728 more than any other Bear...2002 was even more lopsided, with Schwartz receiving 1,334 of Baylor's 4,048 attacks (33 percent), 756 more than the next highest player.
ROAD WARRIORS...
Baylor wrapped up September with a record of 7-7...The month saw them play 11 of its first 14 matches away from the Ferrell Center, including the three-match tournament at Ole Miss Sept. 3-4 and the four-match slate at Sam Houston State Sept. 10-11...The Bears were 2-1 in the Ferrell Center for the month ...Baylor ended a nine-match road losing streak with a sweep of Sam Houston State Sept. 11...With Saturday's win over Iowa State, Baylor won its first Big 12 road match since a five-game victory at Texas Tech Oct. 15, 2003.
CAREER NIGHT...
Seven of the eight Bears that played in the opener against UT-Arlington Sept. 1 set or tied a career high in at least one category...Nicole LeBlanc in kills (28); Stella Odion in kills (20) and digs (23); Desiree Guilliard-Young in kills (16) and digs (4); Emily Huston in assists (68) and digs (15); Maggie Chlebana in digs (15) and service aces (2)...Adeline Meira and Kristen Schramek were playing their first career matches, so each set career highs in several categories...Kelly Spriggs was the only player not to set a career high, but still played well with 16 kills.
