Volleyball Starts Texas Swing in Lubbock
10/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2004
Baylor-Texas Tech Notes
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BAYLOR (10-11, 3-8 Big 12) at TEXAS TECH (7-10, 3-8)
Wednesday, Oct. 27 - 7 p.m.
United Spirit Arena - Lubbock, Texas
Baylor (10-11, 3-8 Big 12) starts its "Texas Swing" against Texas Tech (7-10, 3-8) Wednesday night in Lubbock. The Bears have three straight intrastate road matches, facing Texas Saturday in Austin and Texas-San Antonio Sunday in "The Alamo City" before returning home to battle Texas A&M.
The Bears are looking to bounce back from a tough week with losses at No. 18 Kansas State and a 3-1 loss at home to No. 4 Nebraska Saturday, while the Red Raiders have lost three striaght, but pushed No. 15 Texas A&M to five games in a loss at home on Saturday.
Baylor is led by junior outside hitter Stella Odion, who averages 3.11 kills per game, and defensively by junior middle blocker Adeline Meira, who averages 1.75 blocks per game. Texas Tech is led by Kelly Johnson with 4.16 kills per game.
After this weekend's trip the Bears play five of their final seven matches at home.
QUICK SETS...
Freshman libero Kristen Schramek had her streak of 10 straight matches with at least 10 digs snapped by Nebraska Saturday...Junior setter Emily Huston served up three more aces Saturday, now ranking 19th in the nation with 0.60 per game and moving to within three of Stevie Nicholas at fourth on Baylor's all-time list with 121...Junior middle blocker Adeline Meira is now tied for second in the Big 12 with 1.75 blocks per game and posted her third double-digit block total of the season with 11 against Nebraska Saturday.
BLOCK PARTY...
Baylor has dominated the blocking category, outblocking its opponents in 15 of 21 matches and only recording fewer than seven blocks once...Baylor has registered double-digit blocks 11 times this season, including a season-high 18.0 Oct. 9 at Iowa State...The Bears are outblocking their opponents with 3.06 to 2.14 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 (1.75), sophomore Desiree Guilliard-Young (1.21) and sophomore Nicole LeBlanc (1.11)...Guilliard-Young registered the first 10-block match of her career Oct. 9 at Iowa State, while Meira, who ranks 10th nationally, has accomplished the feat three times this season, including a career-high 11 against Nebraska Saturday...With 1.77 blocks per game in league matches, Meira ranks right behind Nebraska's Melissa Elmer at 1.78...Meira and LeBlanc had 11 blocks each against Nebraska Saturday to lead the Bears as they became the first team this season to outblock the Huskers (14-11), who lead the Big 12 in blocks.
SERVING IT UP...
Baylor ranks third in the Big 12 Conference with 1.73 service aces per game, and junior setter Emily Huston is second in the league individually (19th nationally) with 0.61 per game and sophomore right-side hitter Nicole LeBlanc is eighth with 0.36 per game...Huston recorded the 100th ace of her career against Sam Houston State Sept. 11 and is fifth all-time at Baylor with 121, just three behind Stevie Nicholas...Huston's average of 0.61 currently ranks second among single-season marks all-time at Baylor...Aces have been a telling statistic this season as the Bears are 8-1 when they have more aces and 2-10 when they have equal or fewer.
HITTING THE FLOOR WITH SCHRAM...
Redshirt freshman Kristen Schramek has recorded double-digit digs in 10 of the last 11 matches, including a career-high 22 Oct. 6 at No. 5 Nebraska...Schramek has started the last 10 matches at libero, 11 overall this season, and has posted double-digit digs all but once...She now has double figure digs in 14 of the 21 matches this year and has recorded five digs or fewer only twice...Schramek ranks seventh in the Big 12 with 3.74 digs per game in league matches only and is the only Bear averaging three digs per game or more for the season (3.21)...With a few bounces going her way, Schramek recorded a career-high three kills against Texas Tech Oct. 13.
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 2,882 assists, Huston still has a way to go to challenge the marks of Dana Chuha (4,955) and Cory Sivertson (4,846)...Huston ranks fifth all-time with 121 career aces, only three behind Stevie Nicholas at fourth...Huston's average of 0.61 aces per game this year currently ranks second only Baylor's single-season list.
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 leads the team with 227 kills and 673 attacks, while sophomore Nicole LeBlanc is second with 225 kills and 590 attacks and Desiree Guilliard-Young third with 211 kills and fourth with 439 attacks...Odion is set 24 percent of the time, LeBlanc - 21 percent, Kelly Spriggs - 18 percent and Guilliard-Young - 16 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.
