Volleyball Set to Battle No. 5 Nebraska
10/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2004
Baylor-Nebraska Notes
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Baylor faces its fourth straight ranked opponent when it travels to take on No. 5 Nebraska Wednesday night in Lincoln, Neb., where they have never won. Nebraska leads the all-time series 17-0, 9-0 at home.
The Bears are coming off a 3-1 victory over No. 24 Kansas Saturday night at the Ferrell Center in which four Baylor players recorded double-doubles. Nebraska has won seven in a row, all sweeps, after its lone loss to Florida A&M Sept. 10. The Huskers had Saturday off, but pounded Kansas 3-0 on the road in their last match Sept. 29.
Nebraska is led by All-American and Big 12 Conference Preseason Player of the Year junior middle blocker Melissa Elmer. Elmer is hitting .356 with 3.03 kills and 1.75 blocks per game. Six-foot-five freshman Sarah Pavan is off to an unbelieveable start to her career, hitting .333 with 4.92 kills and 1.31 blocks per game.
The Bears return to action when they hit the road again to battle Iowa State Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
INSIDE THE SERIES vs. NEBRASKA...
Nebraska has dominated the all-time series against Baylor owning a 17-0 record, including a 9-0 mark at home. In the last meeting between the two teams in Lincoln, the Bears took a game off the Huskers for only the second time in the history of the series. Nebraska is the only team Baylor has faced at least 10 times and never beaten. The Huskers have been ranked in the Top 15 every time they have faced the Bears.
BLOCK PARTY...
Baylor has dominated the blocking category, outblocking its opponents in 13 of 15 matches and only recording fewer than eight blocks twice...Baylor has registered double-digit blocks in nine of the last 11 matches...The Bears are outblocking their opponents with 3.07 blocks per game compared to only 1.66 per game for the opposition...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 (1.27) and sophomore Nicole LeBlanc (1.06).
SERVING IT UP...
Baylor ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference with 1.77 service aces per game, and junior setter Emily Huston is second in the league individually with 0.61 per game and sophomore right-side hitter Nicole LeBlanc is sixth with 0.47 per game...Huston recorded the 100th ace of her career against Sam Houston State Sept. 11 and ranks 10th all-time at Baylor with 105...Aces have been a telling statistic this season as the Bears are 7-1 when they have more aces and 1-6 when they have equal or fewer.
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.
ROAD WARRIORS...
Baylor wrapped up September, a month that 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 have already posted a 2-1 record in the Ferrell Center for the month ...Baylor ended a nine-match road losing streak with a sweep of Sam Houston State Sept. 11.
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 174 kills and 482 attacks, while sophomore Nicole LeBlanc is right behind at 173 kills and 416 attacks and Desiree Guilliard-Young is third at 170 kills and 329 attacks...Odion is set 24 percent of the time, LeBlanc - 21 percent, Guilliard-Young - 17 percent and Kelly Spriggs - 17 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.
