Nov. 25, 2009

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo. - After dropping the first set, Baylor dominated Missouri in the next three sets to take home a 3-1 Big 12 road victory in its season finale (16-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-19) at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo.

"I am really proud of the way they battled back tonight," head coach Jim Barnes said. "The character of this team really showed tonight. It all comes down to how you handle adversity, and we did a great job of handling it."

The win snapped a three-match losing streak, and completed Baylor's regular season at 22-9 overall and 11-9 in the Big 12, leaving its postseason fate in the hands of the NCAA selection committee. The Bears will finish in at least fifth place in the Big 12, and possibly a tie for fourth, depending on the Oklahoma/Iowa State match on Saturday. Oklahoma will finish in fourth outright with a win.

Baylor was led by its senior trio of Katie Sanders, Anna Breyfogle and Taylor Barnes, along with middle blockers Torri Campbell and Elizabeth Graham. Sanders notched her 15th double-double of the season with team-highs of 13 kills and 16 digs. Breyfogle had 10 kills, a season-high six digs, and five block assists, while Barnes racked up 45 assists, six digs, and five kills. Campbell and Graham added 10 and nine kills to strengthen the Bear attack.

"I am really proud of our three seniors," Barnes said. "They really stepped up big for us tonight. They are the ones that we have built this program around."

On the Missouri side, the Tigers only offensive weapon was outside hitter Paola Ampudia, who had a match-high 19 kills. Ampudia took 58 attempts, while Baylor adjusted, forcing her into eight errors in the last three sets. Caitlin Vann had a match-high 17 digs for Missouri.

In the first set, Missouri controlled play from the opening serve, racing out to a 10-3 lead. Baylor got a kill from Breyfogle and Qian Zhang to cut the lead to 20-15, but Missouri closed out with a 6-1 run.

"We played about as bad as we could play in that first set, but the girls kept encouraging each other and they executed the game plan," Barnes said. "We planned to go to our middles in transition, just to set that quick hit in the middle and cut it cross-court."

The Bears flipped the script in the second set. It was Baylor that grabbed hold of the set with 10-5 lead after opening with back-to-back kills from Graham, the same from Campbell, and then two in a row by Breyfogle. Sanders pushed the lead to 17-7 with a kill, and Graham added another to make it 22-10. The Tigers made a half-hearted attempt at a comeback, closing to within eight, but Barnes made a second-touch kill to close out the set.

The Bears rode that momentum into the third set, taking a 6-3 lead with two kills by Sanders and one by Zhang. Missouri battled back to tie it at 11-11, but Baylor answered with three kills from Campbell to make it 16-14. Breyfogle then pasted a kill and teamed up with Graham for a block assist to make it 21-15, before finishing off the set with another kill to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.

The third set was more of the same for Baylor with Sanders racking up three kills in the first six total points of the set. A kill by Graham and a service ace by Allison King gave Baylor a 10-4 lead. The Bears traded points with Missouri to hold the lead at five until a 3-0 Tiger run made it 17-15. Graham helped Baylor to two points in a row out of a timeout with a kill and block assist with Breyfogle. Then Breyfogle teamed up with Barnes to block Ampudia for a commanding 22-18 lead. Barnes put away a kill to set up match-point, and Sanders put it way with her 13th kill of the match.

The win gave Baylor only its second winning conference record in program history, and first in 10 years. The 1999 squad finished in a tie for fifth place with a 13-7 Big 12 record.

Baylor's NCAA Tournament fate will be decided on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 2 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The Bears have made only two appearances in the NCAA Tournament in program history. In 1999, Baylor won its first round match, before losing in the second round, and then was ousted in the first round in 2001.