Baylor
Stephen F. Austin
VB Chops Down Ladyjacks, 3-1
8/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2010
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WACO, Texas - Senior middle blocker Elizabeth Graham tied a four-set match record with 13 blocks to go along with 12 kills, leading Baylor to a 3-1 (26-28, 25-10, 25-13, 25-18) victory over Stephen F. Austin in the season opener in the Holiday Inn and Suites Baylor Classic at the Ferrell Center.
Baylor had to fight back to even the score late in the first set before facing a 1-0 deficit, but responded with three dominating sets and some spectacular defensive play to down the Ladyjacks. The Bears out-blocked SFA 14-2, while also recording 17 more digs than their opponents.
"We definitely came out a little nervous, what makes us a good team is serving tough and playing great defense and we didn't do that the first set," head coach Jim Barnes said. "But, our leadership did a great job of keeping the team level-headed and they really represented well after that."
Leading the charge was Graham, who tied Amanda Modglin's four-set BU record and the second-highest block total ever at Baylor, with one solo and 12 block assists. Junior Briana Tolbert added six block assists and senior Ashlie Christenson added four. In the back-row, the Bears had a new-look, but the same old flavor. With a transition to a 6-2 offense, last season's record-setting libero Allison King moved to the outside, but senior Caitlyn Trice stepped into the role with a career-high 28 digs. King, meanwhile, played all six rotations and managed 23 digs to go along with six kills and two block assists.
"We didn't pass well in the first set, so it was tough to get everybody going, but once we started passing and serving well, we really came alive," Barnes said. "Elizabeth (Graham), Ashley (Byrd) and Briana Tolbert really stepped up at the net. And you have to give a lot of credit to Caitlyn (Trice) and Allison (King) in the back row with 28 and 23 digs. They just played phenomenally."
On offense, Baylor's duo of setters, Kate Harris and Brittany Ridenour, each showed promise in the revamped 6-2 offense. Harris tallied 30 assists and six digs, while Ridenour had 18 assists and three digs. Graham led the offense with 12 kills to record her first-career double-double, while Christenson had 11 kills and sophomore Torri Campbell had 10 kills. Combined, the Baylor offense performed at a .271 clip (55-17-140), and held SFA to a miniscule .018 hitting percentage (36-33-164).
"I am really proud of this team," Barnes said. "There have been a lot of changes and they have really bought into them. They played like a great Baylor team, willing to work hard and play for each other. It was a total team effort."
In the first set, Christenson and Graham teamed up to stuff SFA's MC Bottles for a 4-2 lead, but the Ladyjacks responded with a 10-3 run, which included four BU attack errors. The Bears scored five of the next six points with two kills each from Campbell and Ashley Byrd, then retook the lead 21-20 on a kill by King. Baylor had set-point twice, at 24-23 and 26-25, but each time SFA took advantage of a late BU mistake and got a kill from Bottles to end the set, 28-26.
Baylor came out on a mission in the second set, scoring the first four points and six of the first seven, led by two kills from Christenson. From that point, it was all Baylor. The Bears' block forced SFA into nine hitting errors in the set, with Graham tallying a solo and two block assists. The latter came on back-to-back plays alongside Tolbert to push the Baylor lead to 23-9. Christenson finished off the set with a kill and a service ace for a 25-10 win.
The third set was dominated by Graham and her fellow blockers at the net. Graham recorded seven block assists in the set alone, three times with Tolbert, twice with King, and once each with Christenson and Byrd. The total including three in a row to move the score from 5-3 to 8-3, and blow the set open for the Bears. After that, the Baylor offense kept pushing the lead larger. Campbell made it 15-9 with a kill, a Graham kill pushed it to 20-11 and Tolbert finished it off with a kill to end the set 25-13.
In the fourth, the Bears put the game in cruise control, showing their offensive prowess with 16 kills and just one error on 38 total attacks for a .395 hitting percentage. Christenson, Graham and Campbell all had kills to give Baylor a 5-2 lead, then the same trio had two kills and an ace to make the score 16-8. Back-to-back kills by Campbell gave BU a 23-17 lead, and Byrd clinched the match with her ninth kill of the day for a 25-18 set-win.
The Bears are now 6-1 in season openers under Barnes, including a win to start the year each of the past six seasons.
Baylor (1-0) will be back on the court twice on Saturday, beginning with a 12:30 p.m. tilt with SMU, followed by a 7:30 p.m. match against Butler. SMU took their season opener over Butler in the first round of the Baylor Classic with a 3-1 victory. SFA will take on Butler at 10 a.m., then SMU at 5 p.m. at the Ferrell Center.
