Volleyball Faces No. 25 Missouri in Home Finale
11/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2004
Baylor-Missouri Notes
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BAYLOR (12-17, 4-14 Big 12) vs. No. 25 MISSOURI (17-6, 12-4 Big 12)
Saturday, Nov. 20 - 7 p.m.
Ferrell Center - Waco, Texas
Audio: Live BearCast on BaylorBears.com
Baylor (12-17, 4-14) will take on 25th-ranked Missouri (17-6, 12-4) in the home finale Saturday night at the Ferrell Center.
The Bears are coming off a 3-0 home loss to Colorado Wednesday, while Missouri was swept by No. 3 Nebraska 3-0 also at home on Wednesday.
Baylor is led by Stella Odion with 3.08 kills per game and Nicole LeBlanc with 3.00 kills per game. Shen Danru leads Missouri with 3.96 kills per game, while Jessica Vander Kooi is not far behind at 3.94 kills per game. Tiger setter Lindsey Hunter leads the Big 12 with 14.29 assists per game.
The Bears return to action in the season finale at Oklahoma Saturday, Nov. 27 in Norman.
BLOCK PARTY...
Baylor has dominated the blocking category, outblocking its opponents in 22 of 29 matches and only recording fewer than seven blocks once...Baylor has registered double-digit blocks 18 times this season, including a season-high 22.5 against UT-San Antonio, the fourth-highest total in school history...The Bears are outblocking their opponents 3.10 to 2.06 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 (1.59), sophomore Desiree Guilliard-Young (1.36) and sophomore Nicole LeBlanc (1.00)...Stella Odion and Desiree Guilliard-Young posted the first double-digit block matches of their careers, Odion with 10 against UT-San Antonio Oct. 31 and Guilliard-Young also with 10 Oct. 9 at Iowa State..Meira, who ranks 12th nationally, has accomplished the feat three times this season, including a career-high 11 against Nebraska Oct. 23...Meira ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 1.60 blocks per game...Meira and LeBlanc had 11 blocks each against Nebraska Oct. 23 to lead the Bears as they became the only team this season to outblock the Huskers (14.0-11.0), who lead the nation in blocks.
SERVING IT UP...
Baylor ranks seventh in the Big 12 Conference with 1.50 service aces per game, and junior setter Emily Huston is second in the league individually with 0.57 per game...Huston recorded the 100th ace of her career against Sam Houston State Sept. 11 and is third on Baylor's career aces list with 136, tied with Jana Ranly at third...Huston's average of 0.57 currently ranks second among single-season marks all-time at Baylor...Aces have been a telling statistic this season as the Bears are 9-2 when they have more aces than their opponent and 3-15 when they have equal or fewer.
HITTING THE FLOOR WITH SCHRAM...
Redshirt freshman Kristen Schramek has recorded double-digit digs in 17 of the last 19 matches, including a career-high 25 twice (Oct. 31 at UT-San Antonio and Oct. 27 at Texas Tech) and her first 20-plus dig effort with 22 at No. 5 Nebraska Oct. 6...Schramek has started the last 18 matches at libero, 19 overall this season, and has posted double-digit digs all but twice...She now has double figure digs in 21 of the 29 matches this year and has recorded five digs or fewer only twice...Schramek is now 10th in the Big 12 with 3.41 digs per game and ranks ninth in the with 3.72 digs per game in league matches only...With a few bounces going her way, Schramek recorded a career-high three kills against Texas Tech Oct. 13.
ODION SNAPS TRIPLE-DOUBLE DROUGHT...
Junior outside hitter Stella Odion had 14 kills, 11 digs and a career-high 10 blocks against Texas-San Antonio Sunday to record Baylor's first triple double since Tatiana Kenon accomplished the feat against Colorado Oct. 27, 1999...Odion became only the fifth player in school history to record a triple double, joining Kenon, Jenny DeLue, Heather Williams and Cory Sivertson, who has the most triple-doubles in school history with 22.
EM MOVES UP CHARTS...
Junior setter Emily Huston became the third player in Baylor history to tally 3,000 career assists as she posted 46 in the Oct. 31 win over UTSA, but at 3,217 she still has a way to go to challenge the marks of Dana Chuha (4,955) and Cory Sivertson (4,846)...Huston passed Sharon Pratt for third on Baylor's all-time assists list Oct. 9 at Iowa State...With two more aces Wednesday, Huston moved into a tie for third on the Bears' all-time service aces list with 136...Huston is tied with Jana Ranly, now 32 behind Heather Williams at second, and is on a pace to approach Cory Sivertson's school record of 195 toward the end of next season...Huston's average of 0.57 aces per game this year is second in the Big 12 and currently ranks second only Baylor's single-season list.
EARLY COMMITMENT...
Kelsey Smith, a 5-11 outside hitter from Coronado High School in Lubbock, signed a National Letter of Intent with Baylor Nov. 16 and will join the team for the 2005-06 academic year...Smith has led the Mustangs to a 40-3 record this season as they take on San Antonio Clark in the state semifinals Friday night with the winner advancing to the Class 5A championship match Saturday...She has earned all-state, all-district, offensive player of the year and academic all-district honors...Smith has claimed two tournament and one team MVP award, is ranked among the top 10 percent in her class and is heavily involved in community service.
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 320 kills and 938 attacks, while sophomore Nicole LeBlanc is second with 315 kills on 853 attacks...Desiree Guilliard-Young is third with 298 kills and fourth with 627 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 their win over Iowa State Oct. 9, 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.
