Sept. 30, 2009

Box Score

WACO, Texas - No. 19 Baylor played like a Top 20 team, disposing of the visiting Missouri Tigers in a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-18, 25-23) with double-doubles from Katie Sanders and Taylor Barnes on Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.

Baylor rolled through the first two sets, then fought off a furious Missouri rally in the third set getting timely offense from Sanders and Barnes and taking advantage of MU mistakes.

"The other teams have give us their best games in the third set," head coach Jim Barnes said. "They really start serving tougher, really going for it. We took their best shot."

Sanders fueled the offense with 12 kills on 30 attempts with just one error (.367), while also adding a team-high 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Ashlie Christenson and Anna Breyfogle chipped in 10 and eight kills, respectively, to provide some versatility to the attack. Barnes dished out 34 set assists, and was one of four Bears with double-digit digs with 10.

Libero Allison King and defensive specialist Caitlyn Trice each had 10 to go along with Sanders' and Barnes' double-figure totals. King's total marked the 13th straight match and 15th of the season with at least 10 digs.

At the net, Baylor was just under their blocks per set average, but still managed 7.5 team blocks. Breyfogle and Elizabeth Graham each had four block assists, while Barnes and Torri Campbell each had three.

"We are just happy to get a win against any Big 12 team, they are all going to be extremely tough," Barnes said. "We have some veteran players who are doing a good job of communicating within themselves. As long as we passed well our offense really went well."

In the first set, the Baylor offense, which hit .284 (42-13-102), was clicking on all cylinders. Campbell and Breyfogle each tallied kills to put BU up 8-5 early, then Sanders sandwiched two kills around a kill by Graham to spur a 7-0 run to push the score to 18-8. The Bears didn't look back from there, adding another 4-0 run with two kills from Sanders, who also finished off the 25-13 set with a service ace.

After hitting .353 in the first set, the Bears out-hit themselves in the second at .433 (15-2-30). Christenson led off the set with a tone-setting kill, then Sanders added two more to put BU up 10-8. Sanders then followed a Graham-Breyfogle block with a kill as part of a 3-0 run to give the Bears an 18-13 lead. Up 23-18, Christenson and Barnes put away the set with back-to-back kills.

In the third set, Missouri answered two 3-0 runs by the Bears with rallies of their own. Kills by Campbell and Sanders made the score 7-3, and a Christenson kill couple with a Missouri error made it 10-5, but MU scored five of the next six points to take a brief 14-13 lead. Baylor answered with two kills from Breyfogle and a Sanders service ace to build a 21-17 lead. The Tigers clawed back again to tie it at 23, but an attack error and Sanders 12th kill of the night finished off the set, 25-23.

The win marked the fourth-straight for the Bears, pushing their record to 15-1 overall, and 4-1 in the Big 12.

"Its important that we keep getting better," Barnes said. "We have done some great things, but if we are going to be a great team we have to put that in the past and get ready for this next match."

Baylor will hit the road for the first time in four matches at Colorado on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Boulder, Colo.