Oct. 22, 2008
Box Score
WACO, Texas - The Baylor volleyball team placed four players in double-digit kills and the Bears hit a season-high .427 to sweep Kansas 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 27-25) on Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
The Bears connected on 59 kills with only 12 hitting errors on 110 total attempts. The .427 hitting percentage ranks as the eighth-best mark in Baylor history, and the best since Baylor hit .441 in a three-game sweep of Tennessee State during the 2006 season. The hitting percentage is the highest ever against a Big 12 Conference opponent.
"It's good to see us healthy as a team," said head coach Jim Barnes. "We had a great hitting percentage tonight, and that really starts with our passing. I thought Allison [King], Katie [Sanders] and Caitlyn [Trice] did a great job in the back row."
Baylor improves to 14-6 overall, 6-4 in the Big 12 Conference. At the halfway point of the conference schedule, Baylor matches its best conference win total in the Jim Barnes Era. The Bears finished the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons with six conference wins.
In addition, the Bears tallied 21 kills in the third set, the most kills in a single set this season. Baylor connected on 19 kills in the first and second sets, matching its previous season-best of 19 kills in the third set against Oklahoma.
Ashlie Christenson led the way for Baylor with 14 kills on .357 hitting, while Katie Sanders added 13 kills on a career-high .524 hitting. Anna Breyfogle tallied 11 kills on .375 hitting, while Ashley Byrd recorded 10 kills on a career-high .600 hitting.
"I came into the match just wanting to play for the team," said Christenson. "I tried to keep a level head and do my job. We were really aggressive tonight. We passed really well, which gives us a lot of options on offense."
Taylor Barnes recorded 47 set assists, her third-best total of the season and her highest mark in a three-set match. Allison King recorded a match-high 14 digs to reach double-digits for the 15th-straight match.
"I thought that Taylor did a great job of running the offense tonight," said Jim Barnes. "She was very deceptive and that kept their middle blockers off balance. Ashley Byrd did a great job tonight on offense as well."
Breyfogle, who entered the week as the nation's leading blocker, tallied a match-high four blocks for the Bears.
"I think that we matched up really well with Kansas," said Breyfogle. "We played good defense and kept them out of system. We played well tonight and we will try to carry that momentum into Saturday's match."
Baylor returns to action on Saturday night as the Bears play host to No. 13 Kansas State at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center.
