Baylor
*Kansas St
No. 20 Kansas State Slips Past Volleyball 3-2
11/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 13, 2004
WACO, Texas - Baylor was the aggressor early on by winning game one, but No. 20 Kansas State rebounded to hold off the Bears and escape with a 3-2 (25-30, 30-22, 30-21, 28-30, 15-10) victory in Big 12 Conference volleyball action Saturday night at the Ferrell Center.
Sophomore right-side hitter Nicole LeBlanc (Tampa, Fla.) and junior outside hitter Stella Odion (Houston, Texas) led Baylor (12-16, 4-13 Big 12) with 17 kills each. Odion paced the Bears with 18 digs, while LeBlanc had 16 as each recorded a double-double. Junior outside hitter Kelly Spriggs (Houston, Texas) added 14 kills, and sophomore middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young (Berkeley, Calif.) had 10 kills and eight blocks. Freshman libero Kristen Schramek (San Antonio, Texas) chipped in with 15 digs.
Vali Hejjas led Kansas State (17-8, 11-5) with 30 kills and posted 13 digs. Sandy Werner added 16 kills, while Agata Rezende and Lisa Martin had 15 each. Angie Lastra registered a match-high 19 digs.
"The girls battled hard tonight, they were a tough team, but a loss is a loss," head coach Jim Barnes said. "We've got to step up and win these matches. They served us hard and we struggled with our serve and serve receive. If our passing was more steady, we would have been right there with them and could have pulled this one out."
With game one tied 15-15, Baylor ratcheted the offensive and defensive intensity up and scored seven straight to take a 22-15 lead. The Wildcats didn't go down easy as they scored four straight to cut the lead to 28-25, but the Bears held on for a 30-25 win. Baylor hit a blistering .455 in game one, while Kansas State hit .209.
Kansas State turned the tables in game two, scoring six straight to go up 15-7. The Wildcats kept the Bears at arms length, holding at least a five-point advantage for the rest of the game. Kansas State hit .333, while holding Baylor to .132 as the Wildcats evened the match with a 30-22 decision.
Game three went much like game two, with Kansas State jumping out to an early lead and keeping Baylor in the distance. The Wildcats led by as much as 10 on three occasions and went on for a 30-21 victory. Kansas State hit .390 for the game, while Baylor hit only .206.
On three occasions in game four, the Wildcats went up by five (14-9, 20-15, 22-17), but the Bears had an answer every time. At 22-17, the Bears scored five straight the last two on aces by junior setter Emily Huston (Santa Rosa, Calif.) to tie the game at 22-22. Kansas State took a two-point lead at 25-23, but Baylor kept getting up off the mat and scored four in a row to take a 27-25 lead. The Bears went to game point at 29-26, but the Wildcats fought off three game points before a kill by Odion tied the match at two games apiece, 30-28.
Kansas State scored the first three points of the decisive fifth game, but Baylor came back to cut the lead to 5-4. The Wildcats scored two straight to take a 7-4 lead and the two sides basically sided out the rest of the way as the Wildcats won 15-10.
Baylor outblocked Kansas State, 12.5-6.5, and outdug the Wildcats, 67-66. The difference was the Wildcats hitting .286 to the Bears' .243.
Baylor returns to action when it hosts Colorado Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center.
