Dec. 11, 2009
Box Score
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Baylor volleyball's run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament came to an end in a 3-0 loss (24-26, 20-25, 17-25) to ninth-seeded California on Friday at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
"You have to give it to Cal, as far as the way they came out and played," head coach Jim Barnes said. "We didn't have all of our cylinders firing. We never got quite in the match. I can't be any more proud of this team and what they've accomplished. They have represented Baylor in a great fashion and its' been a privilege for me to coach them."
Cal controlled the match from the opening serve, not allowing Baylor to take any lead until BU scored the first point of the third set. Cal's Hana Cutura led all players with 18 kills in the match. BU's Torri Campbell led the team with 10 kills, while Katie Sanders had nine and Anna Breyfogle and Elizabeth Graham each had six. Taylor Barnes led the team with 34 assists and nine digs.
Cal racked up 9.0 blocks, compared to just 2.0 for BU, while hitting an efficient .330 (47-13-103) compared to just .192 (38-18-104).
In the first set, Cal jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Baylor responded with three consecutive points, including a Graham kill, to tie the score at 5-5. Kills by Breyfogle and Sanders kept BU within two points at 10-8, but Cal pushed the lead to six at 18-12. The Baylor offense then heated up Christenson, Breyfogle and Barnes amidst a 5-0 run to tie the score at 20-20. The teams traded points until a BU serving error gave Cal the first set-point of the match. A Baylor attack error ended the set 26-24.
The second set started the same way for each team with Cal getting out to a 4-1 lead. Sanders racked up back-to-back kills to get Baylor within 9-7, but Cal answered with a 9-2 run for an 18-11 lead. Campbell had two kills in a row for Baylor, followed by a Sanders kill to pull within 21-18. Then Cal took the set with back-to-back kills from Tarah Murrey and Correy Johnson for the set win at 25-20.
Baylor scored the first point of the third set on a Sanders kill, but as was the story of the match, Cal scored nine of the next 12 points to take a commanding lead. Torri Campbell had three kills in the set, while Sanders and Qian Zhang each had two, but Baylor didn't get any closer than five the rest of the way in a 25-17 closing set.
The Bears end the season at 24-10 overall, marking the fourth-highest single-season win total in school history. The loss was Baylor's first and only non-conference loss during the 2009 season.
