Volleyball Hits Road to Face No. 10 Texas, UTSA
10/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 29, 2004
Baylor-Texas/UTSA Notes
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Baylor (10-12, 3-9 Big 12) continues its trip through the Lone Star State as it faces No. 10 Texas (18-2, 10-2 Big 12) Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Austin, followed by a non-conference Halloween tilt against Texas-San Antonio (13-11, 9-5 Southland) Sunday at 2 p.m. in San Antonio.
The Bears are looking to snap a three-match losing streak overall and a four-match losing streak in conference play after coming off a tough five-game loss Wednesday night at Texas Tech. Texas, which won its first 16 matches of the season, swept Oklahoma Wednesday night in Norman. UTSA is coming off a five-game victory over Texas-Pan American, a team the Bears swept back on Sept. 8.
Baylor is led by Nicole LeBlanc and Stella Odion, who each have 241 kills, and Adeline Meira, who averages 1.73 blocks per game. Texas is led by Mira Topic, who averages 5.71 kills per game, and Bethany Howden, who averages 4.02 kills per game. UTSA has three players averaging at least three kills per game, topped by Meagan Daniel at 3.54 killls per game.
The Bears return home to host No. 15 Texas A&M Wednesday at 7 p.m.
QUICK SETS...
Freshman libero Kristen Schramek had a career-high 25 digs at Texas Tech Wednesday...Junior setter Emily Huston served up another ace Wednesday, now ranking 17th in the nation with 0.61 per game and moving to within two of Stevie Nicholas at fourth on Baylor's all-time list with 122...Huston is only 58 assists shy of becoming only the third player in Baylor history to record 3,000 career assists...Junior middle blocker Adeline Meira is third in the Big 12 with 1.75 blocks per game and is tied for seventh nationally.
BLOCK PARTY...
Baylor has dominated the blocking category, outblocking its opponents in 16 of 22 matches and only recording fewer than seven blocks once...Baylor has registered double-digit blocks 12 times this season, including a season-high 18.0 Oct. 9 at Iowa State...The Bears are outblocking their opponents with 3.05 to 2.09 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 (1.73), sophomore Desiree Guilliard-Young (1.23) and sophomore Nicole LeBlanc (1.10)...Guilliard-Young registered the first 10-block match of her career Oct. 9 at Iowa State, while Meira, who ranks seventh nationally, has accomplished the feat three times this season, including a career-high 11 against Nebraska Oct. 23...Meira leads the Big 12 with 1.73 blocks per game in conference matches only...Meira and LeBlanc had 11 blocks each against Nebraska Oct. 23 to lead the Bears as they became the first team this season to outblock the Huskers (14.0-11.0), who lead the nation in blocks.
SERVING IT UP...
Baylor ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference with 1.66 service aces per game, and junior setter Emily Huston is second in the league individually (17th nationally) with 0.58 per game and sophomore right-side hitter Nicole LeBlanc is ninth with 0.34 per game...Huston recorded the 100th ace of her career against Sam Houston State Sept. 11 and is fifth all-time at Baylor with 122, just two behind Stevie Nicholas...Huston's average of 0.58 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 2-11 when they have equal or fewer.
HITTING THE FLOOR WITH SCHRAM...
Redshirt freshman Kristen Schramek has recorded double-digit digs in 11 of the last 12 matches, including a career-high 25 Oct. 27 at Texas Tech and 22 at No. 5 Nebraska Oct. 6...Schramek has started the last 11 matches at libero, 12 overall this season, and has posted double-digit digs all but once...She now has double figure digs in 15 of the 22 matches this year and has recorded five digs or fewer only twice...Schramek ranks sixth in the Big 12 with 3.89 digs per game in league matches only and is the only Bear averaging three digs per game or more for the season (3.32)...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 2,942 assists, Huston needs only 58 more to become the third player in Baylor history with 3,000 assists, but 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 122 career aces, only two behind Stevie Nicholas at fourth...Huston's average of 0.58 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 and sophomore Nicole LeBlanc are tied for the team lead with 241 kills - Odion on 710 attacks and LeBlanc on 633...Desiree Guilliard-Young is third with 228 kills and fourth with 474 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.
