Sept. 22, 2009

MATCH 14

Complete Baylor Notes

vs. No. 11 IOWA STATE • Sept. 23, 2009 • Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)

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LAST TIME VS. IOWA STATE
ISU's Victoria Henson tallied 19 kills and Rachel Hockaday added 16 kills as Iowa State rallied from a one-set deficit to down Baylor 3-1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 26-24) at the Hilton Coliseum.
Katie Sanders led three Baylor players in double-digit kills with 11, while Briana Tolbert and Anna Breyfogle added 10 kills apiece. Taylor Barnes dished out 46 set assists to go along with four service aces. Allison King recorded a team-high 18 digs, extending her current streak to 17-straight matches with 10 or more digs. The Bears recorded 10 total blocks, including four apiece for Barnes, Breyfogle and Sanders.

LAST TIME VS. KANSAS
KU's Karina Garlington tallied a match-high 20 kills and Kansas overcame a one-set deficit to defeat Baylor 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 28-26, 25-18) on at the Horejsi Family Center. The loss snapped Baylor's two-match overall winning streak.
Katie Sanders led Baylor with 16 kills and added 15 digs for her 14th kill-dig double-double of the season. Allison King tallied 11 kills on a career-best .303 hitting, along with 20 digs. Taylor Barnes contributed 46 set assists, and Anna Breyfogle added eight kills and five total blocks, including a solo.

LAST TIME OUT...
No. 24 Baylor's defense came up big time after time to help the Bears to a four-set victory (25-10, 20-25, 25-13, 25-22) over Kansas State on Saturday afternoon inside the Ferrell Center. The match came down to Baylor's defense, which totaled 65 digs and 11 blocks, led by Allison King's 19 digs and Anna Breyfogle's 11 blocks. Baylor forced KSU into a .061 hitting percentage (41k-32e-147) with spectacular play at the net and in the back row.
Along with King, Katie Sanders had double-digit kills with 17, while Taylor Barnes and Jordan Rice each had eight. At the net, six Bears had at least two blocks. Along with Breyfogle's six, Ashlie Christenson and Torri Campbell each had four, while Taylor Barnes had three and Sanders and Elizabeth Graham each had two.
Christenson led the Bears' offense with 14 kills and only three errors on 34 swings (.324). Sanders had her seventh double-double of the season added 11 kills to her 17 digs.

CHRISTENSON SIZZLING
Junior oustide hitter Ashlie Christenson has been the go-to option for the Baylor attack over the last five matches. The Cleburne, Texas, native has led the Bears in kills in four of the last five matches, and total attacks in two of the last three.
In two of those matches Christenson has recorded double-digit kills with a season-high 14 against Kansas State last Saturday. In two conference matches, she is averaging a team-best 3.14 kills per set, while leading the Bears with 22 and 56 total attempts.

DIGGIN' IT
Sophomore libero Allison King has been a model of consistency for the Bears' defense this season. Playing every set of the season, King has recorded double-digit digs in 12 of the Bears' 1 matches. In her only match short of double figures, King had nine digs in a sweep over New Orleans. The Carrolton, Texas native has recorded 20 digs twice this season. Both efforts came on the same day with 22 against UTSA, and 20 against Purdue, as part of the Baylor Classic. King has also been nearly flawless in serve-receive for the Bears, making just seven errors in 158 total attempts for a .956 reception percentage.

HISTORY VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
• Baylor is 13-165 (.073) all-time vs. ranked opponents, with a 4-35 mark in the Jim Barnes era
• The Bears are 2-7 (.285) as a ranked team against a ranked opponent including an 0-1 mark in 2009
• Texas, ranked No. 12 in 1999, is the highest ranked team Baylor has ever defeated
• Baylor has only defeated two or more ranked in the same season twice in program history (1999, 2006)

BAYLOR VS. '09 RANKED OPPONENTS
The Bears win over 24th-ranked Purdue in the title game of the Holiday Inn & Suites Baylor Classic was the first over a ranked opponent since a five-set win at the Ferrell Center against 16th-ranked Missouri on Oct. 27, 2006.
On Wednesday, Baylor played its second ranked team of the season in No. 2 Texas, but fell 3-0 to an athletic Longhorns squad. The loss dropped Baylor's record against ranked teams to 1-1 in 2009.
Baylor had lost 17 consecutive games against ranked opponents coming into Saturday night. It also marked the third win over a ranked opponent in the Jim Barnes era. Barnes also recorded victories over no. 24 Kansas in 2004, and no. 24 Kansas State in 2006.

BEARS REMAIN IN TOP 25
Despite suffering their first loss of the season to No. 2 Texas, the Bears bounced back to beat Kansas State, remaining at 24th in the latest AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll.
Entering the rankings on Sept. 14th marked the first time since the 2001 season that the Bears were in the top 25, climbing as high as 20th. The Bears first cracked the top 25 in 1999, finishing the season 20th. Baylor then entered the 2000 season ranked 21st and climbed as high as 19th, the highest ranking in school history.

DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
Baylor's defense has proved to be one of its strong points this season, holding opponents to a .124 hitting percentage and 10.0 kills per set.
The Bears have racked up 116.5 blocks for an average of 2.5 per set, and 673 digs for an average of 14.6 per set. Middle blocker Anna Breyfogle has been a force at the net averaging 1.56 blocks per set, while libero Allison King is leading the back row with 190 total digs for an average of 4.13 per set.

LEAGUE LEADERS
Anna Breyfogle is at the top of the Big 12 in blocks per set with 1.56. The Buda, Texas native has totaled 67 blocks on the season, nine more than any other blocker in the Big 12. Breyfogle also has the highest single-match block total in the league, when she had 12 against Houston earlier this season.

CLOSE CALL
Baylor has been perfect this season in five-set matches, winning all three. The Bears came from behind to beat TCU on Sept. 1, then beat No. 24 Purdue at home, and knocked off New Mexico in five on the road.
It was the Bears fifth five-set win in a row dating back to last season. Baylor was 3-2 in five-set matches in 2008 with wins over Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Missouri, and losses to Kansas State and Oklahoma.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPS
Baylor won all three tournaments they entered this season, most recently taking the Comcast Challenge title at the University of New Mexico, defeating the host, as well as Pittsburgh and Cal State Fullerton.
Baylor won all three games at the Holiday Inn & Suites Baylor Classic on Sept. 4-5. The Bears opened with sweeps of UCF and UTSA, before handing 24th-ranked Purdue a five-set loss in the tournament title game. For their efforts, Katie Sanders was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, while teammates Taylor Barnes and Ashley Byrd earned all-tournament team honors.
With a perfect 3-0 record at the Flo Hyman Invitational hosted by the University of Houston, the Bears claimed co-tournament champion honors. Baylor shared the title with the University of Indiana, as the two did not meet.

TOURNAMENT HONORS
Three Bears received tournament honors at the Comcast Challenge on Sept. in Albuquerque, N.M., led by tournament Most Valuable Player Taylor Barnes. The senior setter racked up 117 assists in three tournament matches, along with 11 kills, 23 digs, and six blocks. Barnes narrowly missed a triple-double against New Mexico with eight kills, 53 assists and eight digs.
Middle blocker Anna Breyfogle and outside hitter Ashlie Christenson were named to the all-tournament team for their performances. Breyfogle was a force at the net with at least six blocks in all three matches, and totaling 31 kills with a career-high 21 against New Mexico. Christenson was also a go-to option on offense with double-digit kills in two of the three matches, and totaling eight blocks on the weekend.

LIKE A BROKEN RECORD
Anna Breyfogle continued her legacy as one of the best blockers in BU history setting a school record for blocks in a three-set match with 12 against Houston in the Bears second match of the season. The senior recorded one solo and 11 block assists in a three-set sweep of the Cougars.
With 23 total blocks in nine sets at the Flo Hyman Invitational, Breyfogle, who led the Big 12 in blocks per set in 2008, averaged 2.56 bps in the team's first three games. Comparatively, in 2008, she averaged 1.45.

MAKE IT 11!
With three wins at the Comcast Challenge, Baylor ran its winning streak to a school-record 11 matches before losing to No. 2 Texas on Sept. 16. The streak set the record for most wins to open a season and ties the record for overall winning streak.
The previous record of eight wins to open a season had been accomplished three times in school history with the most recent coming last season. The overall winning streak record was set in 2006 when Barnes' crew ripped off 11 in a row.

OUT OF THE GATES
In the Jim Barnes era, the Bears have become accustomed to starting the season off on the right foot. After losing the season-opener in Barnes' first season, Baylor has won its first match of the season each of the last five years with a win to open 2009 over Southeastern Louisiana.
In 2008, Barnes' crew ripped off eight consecutive wins to open the season, losing just three sets along the way. That streak included a 13-set winning streaking, starting with the last two sets at Texas State and ending with a third-set loss against Rice.

ALL-BIG 12 PRESEASON TEAM
For the second-straight season, Taylor Barnes and Anna Breyfogle were named to the preseason All-Big 12 team.
Barnes, a senior setter, was named to the preseason team for the third-straight year. In 2008, she parlayed her preseason accolade into All-Big 12 First Team postseason honors, leading the Big 12 in service aces per set. Barnes also earned all-AVCA central region honors and ranked fourth in the Big 12 with 10.32 assists per set.
Breyfogle, a senior middle blocker, earned the preseason honor for the second-straight year. Like Barnes, Breyfogle also earned both All-Big 12 First Team and all-AVCA central region honors in 2008. The Buda, Texas, native led the Big 12 in blocks per set with 1.45, while ranking seventh in the nation in that category.

ADDITIONS AND SUBTRACTIONS
Baylor lost just one letterwinner from its 2008 squad, while adding the three recruits that make up the 14th-ranked class in the nation, accoring to Prepvolleyball.com.
Amarillo's (Texas) Torri Campbell, ranked 30th in the country, enters Baylor as its second-highest ranked recruit in program history. Zoe Adom, an ultra-athletic outside hitter from Euless, Texas, and Kiley Sherman, a versatile outside and defensive player from Oswego, Ill., round out the class for the Bears.

NOT THAT A-TEAM
Baylor junior Ashlie Christenson had a busy offseason after earning a spot on the 24-player U.S. Women's National A2 Program last Spring. Christenson was just the second player in Baylor history, along with Stevie Nicholas in 2002, to be named to the A2 National Team.

LIVE ON THE WEB
Don't forget to check out live stats on Gametracker on BaylorBears.com. Baylor's official website will also feature a live radio webcast with veteran play-by-play announcer Larry Little handling the duties for home matches, and Todd Zeidler bringing you the action from the road.