Sept. 8, 2009

MATCH 8

Complete Baylor Notes

BAYLOR (7-0) vs. TEXAS STATE (1-6) • Sept. 8, 2009 • Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)

INTERNET AUDIO: live broadcast stream at BaylorBears.com

LIVE STATS: Live GameTracker stats at BaylorBears.com

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS...
• Texas State is lead by 30th-year head coach Karen Chisum, who has compiled a 675-434-3 record in 29 seasons for the Bobcats.
• TSU entered 2009 fresh off of a 2008 Southland Conference regular season championship, but has started the season 1-6, with lone win coming over the Big 12’s Texas Tech.
• The Bobcat attack is quarterbacked by setter Brittany Collins, and led by leading hitter Jessica Weynand, who is averaging 3.68 kills per set.
• On defense, TSU is led by Weynand, who has 72 digs on the season, and libero Ally Buitron, who has 80 digs.  

LAST TIME AGAINST TEXAS STATE...
Baylor had four players with double-digit kills as the Bears pushed past Texas State (25-17, 23-25, 25-7, 28-26) at Strahan Coliseum. Katie Sanders paced the Baylor offense with 13 kills on the night. Anna Breyfogle tallied 12 kills, while Ashlie Christenson and Ashley Byrd recorded 10 kills apiece.
Baylor recorded a season-best 13 total blocks. Breyfogle and Briana Tolbert led the way with six blocks each, including one solo block apiece. Taylor Barnes led the Bears with 39 set assists to go along with three service aces.  Allison King recorded a career-high 18 digs to lead the Bears, while Sanders tallied her second kill/dig double-double of the season with 13 digs to go along with her 13 kills. Barnes added 13 digs for the Bears. 

LAST TIME OUT...
Baylor ran its win streak to seven-straight to open 2009, winning all three matches on the way to the Holiday Inn & Suites Baylor Classic tournament title. The Bears opened the weekend with a sweep over UCF on Friday night. In the match, Katie Sanders recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs, while libero Allison King added 10 digs. The Bears hit an efficient .434 (46-10-83) in the match. On Saturday morning, the Bears cruised to a sweep over UTSA with 11 kills from Sanders and a season-high 22 digs by King. Baylor racked up 60 digs in the three-set match.  Caitlyn Trice and Taylor Barnes each recorded nine. In the tournament title game, Baylor knocked off No. 24 Purdue in five sets. The Bears battled back from a 1-0 deficit with double-digit kills from Sanders (20), Ashlie Christenson (12), Ashley Byrd (11) and Anna Breyfogle (10). Sanders earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors, while Byrd and Barnes were all-tournament.

BAYLOR VS. 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.
 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.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
 Baylor received votes in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll released on Monday afternoon by American Volleyball Coaches Association officials.
 The Bears received a season-high 43 points in the poll, ranking them 29th among all vote getters, up three spots and 38 points from the Preseason AVCA Top 25 Poll. Baylor is one of six Big 12 teams receiving votes in the poll.

CLOSE CALL
 Baylor had its first five-set match of the season in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory at TCU. After Baylor squeaked out a 28-26 victory in the first set, TCU took control of the match winning the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead. But, the Bears dominated the fourth set 25-9, and then went on to erase a 7-4 fifth-set deficit to win 15-13.
 It was the Bears third 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.Baylor added its fourth-straight five-set win against Purdue on Sept. 4.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPS
 Baylor won their second tournament of the season, winning 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.
 The Bears and Hoosiers were part of the five-team with each playing three matches against the other three teams (SE La., Houston, New Orleans).

STRAIGHT SETS
 The Bears completed a perfect start in the season’s opening weekend, winning all nine sets in three matches at the Flo Hyman Invitational. The Bears went on to win the first set at TCU before the streak halted in Set 2 at 10. The streak is the most since Baylor won 13 consecutive sets in the middle of an eight-match winning streak to open the 2008 season.
 In ‘08, Baylor closed out the last two sets against Texas State, then swept Weber State, San Diego State, and Texas-San Antonio before the streak was snapped in the third set of a 3-1 victory over Rice.

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.

DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
 Baylor’s defense has proved to be one of its strong points this season, holding opponents to just a .127 hitting percentage and 10.0 kills per set.
 The Bears have racked up 59.5 blocks for an average of 2.4 per set, and 377 digs for an average of 15.1 per set. Middle blocker Anna Breyfogle has been a force at the net averaging a league-leading 1.55 blocks per set, while libero Allison King is leading the back row with 105 total digs for an average of 4.2 per set.

LEAGUE LEADERS
 Anna Breyfogle remains atop two categories in the Big 12. The middle blocker is at the top of the total blocks (25) and blocks per set (1.55) list, as well as leading the league with a .452 hitting percentage (58-11-104). Breyfogle also had two of the top three single-match block totals in the team.

OUT OF THE BLOCKS
 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 game of the season each of the last five years with a win to open 2009 over Southeastern Louisiana.
 In2008, 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.

LOOK! I’M ON TV
 Baylor will be part of the five-game telecast schedule for the Big 12 Conference this season when it travels to the University of Texas on Sept. 16. The game will be televised on ESPNU, with a 6 p.m. start time.
 The Big 12 telecast schedule includes four games on ESPNU and one game on Fox Sports Net. Nebraska and Texas will each be televised three times, while Texas A&M will be televised twice and Baylor and Oklahoma each once.

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.
 The 2009 U.S. Women's National A2 Team included four setters, 10 outside/opposite hitters, six middles and four liberos. The 24 players come from 19 different collegiate programs. . A record total of 160 athletes competed in the Open Tryout.

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.