Volleyball Hosts Northwestern St. in Non-Conference Tilt
10/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 15, 2004
Baylor-Northwestern State Notes
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Baylor (9-9, 3-6 Big 12) takes a break from Big 12 Conference play as it hosts Northwestern (La.) State (9-9, 5-4 Southland) Saturday in an afternoon tilt.
The Bears will be looking to bounce back from a 3-1 loss to Texas Tech at home on Wednesday, while the Demons lost their last time out, 3-1, to Stephen F. Austin.
Today's match is the first meeting between the two schools in more than six years.
The Bears wrap up the first round of the conference's round robin format as they head north to take on No. 15 Kansas State Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Manhattan, Kan.
QUICK SETS...
Junior outside hitter Kelly Spriggs has four-straight double-digit kill matches off the bench...Freshman libero Kristen Schramek has recorded 10 digs or more in each of the last eight matches...Sophomore middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young registered the first 10-block match of her career Oct. 9 at Iowa State...Junior setter Emily Huston served up four aces against Texas Tech Wednesday to move into a tie for seventh on Baylor's all-time list with 113, just one behind Shelley Keyes and Dana Atkinson, who are tied for fifth at 114.
BLOCK PARTY...
Baylor has dominated the blocking category, outblocking its opponents in 14 of 18 matches and only recording fewer than eight blocks twice...Baylor has registered double-digit blocks in 10 of the last 14 matches, including a season-high 18.0 Oct. 9 at Iowa State...The Bears are outblocking their opponents with 3.09 to 2.00 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 (1.64), sophomore Desiree Guilliard-Young (1.30) and sophomore Nicole LeBlanc (1.05)...Guilliard-Young registered the first 10-block match of her career Oct. 9 at Iowa State, while Meira has accomplished the feat twice this season.
SERVING IT UP...
Baylor ranks sixth in the Big 12 Conference with 1.66 service aces per game, and junior setter Emily Huston is second in the league individually with 0.58 per game and sophomore right-side hitter Nicole LeBlanc is ninth with 0.39 per game...Huston recorded the 100th ace of her career against Sam Houston State Sept. 11 and is tied for seventh all-time at Baylor with 113, just one behind Shelley Keyes and Dana Atkinson, who are tied for fifth at 114...Aces have been a telling statistic this season as the Bears are 7-1 when they have more aces and 2-8 when they have equal or fewer.
HITTING THE FLOOR WITH SCHRAM...
Redshirt freshman Kristen Schramek has recorded double-digit digs in the last eight matches, including a career-high 22 Oct. 6 at No. 5 Nebraska...Schramek has started the last seven matches at libero, eight overall this season, and has posted double-digit digs each time...She now has double figure digs in 12 of the 16 matches this year and has recorded five digs or fewer only twice...Schramek ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 3.91 digs per game in league matches only and is one of two Bears (Stella Odion) averaging three digs per game or more for the season (3.03)...With a few bounces going her way, Schramek recorded a career-high three kills against Texas Tech Wednesday.
EM MOVES UP CHARTS...
Junior setter Emily Huston passed Sharon Pratt for third on Baylor's all-time assists list Oct. 9 at Iowa State...At 2,781 assists, Huston still has a way to go to challenge the marks of Dana Chuha (4,955) and Cory Sivertson (4,846)...With four more aces Wednesday, Huston moved into a tie for seventh all-time with Erin McElwain...With 113 career aces, Huston is only one ace away from tying Shelley Keyes and Dana Atkinson for fifth and 11 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 tied for second with 194 kills but leads the team with 581 attacks, while sophomore Nicole LeBlanc leads the team with 202 kills and is second with 520 attacks and Desiree Guilliard-Young is tied for second with 194 kills and 393 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.
