Sept. 18, 2011
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| STATS COMPARISON | | | | Kills | 31 | 39 | | Errors | 26 | 12 | | Total Attacks | 104 | 91 | Attack Pct.
| .048 | .297 | | Assists | 28 | 35 | | Digs | 36 | 45 | | Blocks | 7.0 | 10.0 | | Service Aces | 1 | 4 |
| Stat Leaders | | | Brand | 10 | Kills | 10 | Nora | | Alcantara | 16 | Assists | 18 | Ridenour | | Wild | 11 | Digs | 16 | King | | 2 Players | 2 | Blocks | 4 | Tolbert | | Brand | 1 | Aces | 1 | 4 Players |
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|  | | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | 5TH | | 25 | 20 | 25 | 16 | 15 | | 23 | 25 | 18 | 25 | 12 |
| STATS COMPARISON | | | | Kills | 63 | 62 | | Errors | 29 | 23 | | Total Attacks | 172 | 164 | Attack Pct.
| .198 | .238 | | Assists | 61 | 57 | | Digs | 77 | 68 | | Blocks | 7.0 | 10.0 | | Service Aces | 5 | 5 |
| Stat Leaders | | | Dibbern | 15 | Kills | 19 | Moea'i | | Ridenour | 48 | Assists | 50 | Thelen | | Zhang | 22 | Digs | 24 | Davies | | Tolbert | 5 | Blocks | 7 | Westman | | Ogden | 2 | Aces | 4 | Glenn |
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LAS VEGAS - Baylor collected two more victories, sweeping Fresno State and outlasting UNLV in five sets, to take home the UNLV Classic title on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In the morning match, Baylor (11-3) was able to take down Fresno State in straight sets (25-9, 25-20, 25-21), before getting into a battle with host UNLV. The Bears faced a big deficit in the fifth set and came back to win 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 16-25, 15-12).
With a perfect 3-0 record in the tournament, the Bears earned some individual hardware as well. Freshman Adri Nora was named the tournament MVP for her performance, while seniors Briana Tolbert and Allison King were named to the all-tournament team.
Baylor will be back at the Ferrell Center on Wednesday, Sept. 21, for its Big 12 Conference opener against No. 22 Oklahoma. The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m. in Waco.
MATCH 1
Baylor put together a sound match on both sides of the ball, taking down Fresno State with a 3-0 sweep (25-9, 25-20, 25-21) in the first match of the day. The Bears cruised out to an early lead in the first two sets, not allowing FSU to take a lead at any point until the third set.
"We are continuing to work on our service game, and we are slowing making progress," head coach Jim Barnes said. "If we can serve tough and get a team out of sync offensively, we'll have really good success. When we put them in bad positions with our serve, we were able to get our block going."
For the second straight match, the Bears hit over .250 on offense and held their opponent under .100. Nora had another solid match, leading Baylor with 10 kills and hitting .444 with just two errors in 18 attempts. Tolbert added nine kills and Alyssa Dibbern chalked up six.
On defense, King notched 16 of the team's 45 digs, while Tolbert led with one solo block and three block assists as part of the team's 10.0.
"We really talked about making our defense, and holding these teams under .100 both matches was good for us," Barnes said. "That comes from serving tough and developing our block."
It was all Baylor in the early going with the Bears sprinting out to a 4-0 lead with two kills by Nora and a service ace from King. BU built onto the lead with Tolbert gathering book-end kills as part of a 6-0 that made it 12-3. Torri Campbell got in the action with three of her five kills in an 11-3 stretch that finished the first set in a dominating 25-9.
In the second, the Bears again got off to a hot start with a 5-0 run capped by a solo block from Campbell. After the Bulldogs closed the lead to just one at 11-0, Qian Zhang collected a kill and a service ace as Baylor broke it open with an 8-1 run. Campbell finished it off with a kill to give Baylor the 25-20 edge.
After Fresno State took their only lead of the morning 1-0, the Bears reeled off four consecutive points and would not relinquish the lead again. The Bulldogs hung tight at 13-12, but Baylor ran off five straight points to take the 18-13 advantage. During the span, Tolbert collected two kills and was just getting warmed up. FSU scored two in a row, but Tolbert collected two kills and two blocks during another 5-0 run before Dibbern's kill ended the day at 25-21.
MATCH 2
Baylor made big comebacks in the first and fifth sets, grinding out a victory over UNLV in five sets. Dibbern racked up a career-high 15 kills to lead a Baylor squad that had four players with at least 10 kills. Tolbert and Campbell each racked up 11, while Zoe Adom came off the bench midway through second set to spark the offense with 10 kills.
"UNLV played great, so my hat's off to them," Barnes said. "They really pushed us, and we had to put together a great team effort to win. We made a couple nice runs at the end of that last set that we really needed. I thought Brittany (Ridenour) did a tremendous job keeping the team steady all weekend, and I was proud of Zoe (Adom) coming off the bench to get us some important points."
Senior setter Brittany Ridenour had one of the best matches of her career as well, notching a career-best eight kills, while adding 48 assists and 12 digs. The numbers marked her seventh double-double of the season.
On defense, Zhang notched a career-high 22 digs and added six kills with zero errors, while King added 20 digs. At the net, Tolbert had five total blocks, while Dibbern added three.
After losing a 10-7 lead, Baylor had to fight back from a 23-20 deficit to find a way to win the first set. Dibbern sandwiched three of her team-high 15 kills around a service ace from Hope Ogden to put BU back in the lead, 24-23. A miscommunication on the Rebel side resulted in an error to give Baylor the first set 25-23.
UNLV battled back in the second set to knot the score at 1-1 overall. In the set, the teams traded the lead four times until the Rebels gained control with a 3-0 run to make it 16-12. Baylor recorded three straight kills to get back within two at 21-19, but UNLV went on to win 25-20.
The Bears made two significant runs in the third set, with the first coming in a 4-0 span for a 14-11 lead. Adom notched two kills during the stretch. Baylor then scored five of the last six points in the set, including three kills by Zhang for a 25-18 win.
The fourth set looked to be going Baylor's way after kills by Tolbert and Adom made it 4-0, but UNLV rallied to score 12 of the final 15 points of the set for a 25-18 win. Taylor Richard and Makenzie Moea'i each had three kills during the deciding run.
In the fifth, UNLV came flying out at the start, racing to an 8-2 lead. After the teams changed sides, Baylor got a spark from Tolbert and Dibbern amidst a big run. The pair each had three kills and combined on a block to rip off a 9-1 run for a 10-9 lead. A Campbell kill and Kate Harris service ace set match-point, and Zhang took care of it with a kill for a 15-12 set-win.
