Baylor
Missouri
VB Erases 2-0 Deficit to Rally Past Missouri
10/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2011
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WACO, Texas -Baylor's offense came alive just in time to help the Bears claw back from a 2-0 deficit to stun Missouri, 3-2 (23-25, 16-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-9), and win their third Big 12 match in a row on Saturday afternoon at the Ferrell Center.
Trailing by two sets and facing a 8-2 deficit in the third, Baylor's trio of Briana Tolbert, Torri Campbell and Zoe Adom cranked up the offense to lead Baylor (14-6, 3-3) all the way back for the five-set victory. The Bears took control in the fourth and fifth sets, taking an early lead in each and keeping the offensive pressure on Missouri (14-7, 1-4).
"After those first two sets, I felt like our juniors and seniors needed to step up, and they did," head coach Jim Barnes said. "We just weren't executing at all, and the seniors did kick in and play like seniors. We started serving them with more pace and got their server off the net, which turned out to be a big difference."
Through two sets, Adom had seven kills, Campbell had six and Tolbert had four, but Adom and Campbell each finished with 17 and Tolbert racked up a career-high on the day. All three hit over .340 in the match, including Tolbert's .441 with only three errors in 34 attempts.
"Bri (Tolbert) got really aggressive, Torri (Campbell) got really aggressive, and those two and Zoe (Adom) got a lot of kills," Barnes said. "We've got to have our leftsides go up and terminate the ball, and Zoe did that today. It was good to see her respond."
Baylor's offense hit over .300 in four of the five sets, with the exception of the second set, totaling a .289 hitting percentage on the day with 69 total kills. Setter Kate Harris, starting just her fourth match of the season at the position and playing against her former team, racked up her third career-high total of the season with 57 assists and adding 10 digs for a double-double. Harris, a junior, transferred to Baylor from Missouri following her freshman season.
For Missouri, Lisa Henning, who entered ranked fifth in the league in kills per set, racked up 27, the highest total against Baylor this season.
On defense, Baylor played sound back-row defense with six players notching at least six digs, including senior libero Allison King's team-high 19. Senior Qian Zhang added 17 digs, while sophomore Kayci Evans just missed double figures with nine.
In the opening set, Baylor hung with Missouri, going on a 4-1 run to take a 13-11 lead with kills by Tolbert and Alyssa Dibbern. But, after a Dibbern blocking error, the tide turned in Missouri's favor. The Tigers scored 10 of the next 14 points for a 21-17 lead. Baylor took advantage of an MU service error and got a block by Campbell and Zhang to pull within 24-23, but Missouri finished with a kill by Katie O'Brien.
The second set featured another solid run by Baylor to take a 12-11 lead on back-to-back Missouri errors, but the Tigers again seized control and ran out the set to win 25-16.
That MU momentum carried into the third set, as the Tigers jumped out to an 8-2 lead and threatened to take a sweep from the Bears. But, Baylor responded with some quick offense and pinpoint passing to put on a 12-2 run and take a 16-12 lead. During the stretch, Adom had three kills and Missouri committed five consecutive errors. Adom and Tolbert kept the pressure on offensively as they combined for five more kills in the set to win 25-18.
In the fourth, Tolbert carried the offense for Baylor as Harris found her seven times for kills. A service ace by Jordan Rice made it 6-2, and then Tolbert put down back-to-back kills for an 11-6 lead. Campbell got in the act for three kills to maintain the Baylor lead at 16-9, before Tolbert had three kills in a row for BU to make it 24-17. Dibbern put down the final kill and Baylor took the win 25-20.
The fifth set was all Baylor, as the Bears erased a 2-0 Missouri lead with a 6-2 run on back-to-back kills by Campbell. Tolbert picked up two more kills and Adom added one to make the score 11-6. After Missouri started to try to rally back, Evans placed a perfect serve in front of the backline for an ace and Baylor was on its way to the win with Campbell's kill, 15-8.
Baylor will step out of conference and finish a four-match homestand on Tuesday against North Texas at the Ferrell Center. The Bears and Mean Green will start at 6:30 p.m.
