Baylor
Texas A&M
Volleyball Falls At No. 23 Texas A&M
11/15/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2000
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Baylor's women's volleyball team was held to a .088 team attacking percentage here Wednesday night in a 15-3, 15-2, 15-4 loss at No. 23 Texas A&M. With the loss, the Bears fall to 14-13 on the season and 7-11 in the Big 12 Conference. The Aggies, meanwhile, improve to 17-7 and 12-5.
The nine points scored by the Bears is the lowest point total in a match by a Baylor team since Nov. 23, 1996, head coach Brian Hosfeld's first season at Baylor. In that match, the Bears were held to eight points (5-15, 1-15, 2-15) at then-No. 5 Nebraska. Baylor's attacking percentage, which was the result of 26 errors with only 37 kills on the night, is its second-worst attacking night of the season. Only Nebraska held BU lower at .052 Oct. 11.
Texas A&M dominated the match from the beginning. In the first game, the Aggies scored 11 points before the Bears even got on the board. A kill by Tatiana Kenon and a block by Sunny Nicholas and Dana Chuha gave Baylor a couple of points, but the Aggies then scored three straight to reach game point. The Bears fought off four game points, but could not hold off any longer and fell 15-3.
Game two was not much better. Baylor's .136 team attacking percentage in game one dropped to negative-.062 in the second game with 10 errors and only eight kills. The result was a 15-2 Aggie victory. Again A&M built a dominating lead, scoring the game's first eight points. The Bears got on the board for a couple of points, but they were out-scored 7-0 the rest of the way. The Aggies blistered BU in the second game with 14 kills and only two errors for a .500 attacking percentage.
The trend continued in the third game, A&M built a 5-1 lead and never looked back. Trailing 12-2, the Bears were able to score consecutive points for just the third time on the match to cut the Aggie lead to 12-4. However, that was as close as BU would get.
Stevie Nicholas led the Bears with 14 kills, breaking her tie with Elisha Polk for the most double-digit kill matches by a freshman in Baylor history, Nicholas now has 26 on the season. The Aggies forced Nicholas into nine errors, though, and she hit just .128. Sunny Nicholas was the top hitter for Baylor percentage wise with seven kills and two errors for a .227 outing.
Dana Chuha, who entered as the NCAA leader in assists, was held to just 30 as Baylor produced its second-lowest kill total of the season. The Bears were out-blocked 13-4 and managed just 36 digs to A&M's 54.
For the Aggies, Heather Marshall and Erin Gibson had 12 kills each, hitting .529 and .345, respectively. Michelle Cole added 10 kills and a .471 attacking percentage, and Tara Pulaski came off the bench for nine errorless kills in 11 attempts (.818). Cole and Christy Clark led A&M with 13 digs each, and Marshall tallied a match-high eight blocks. As a team, the Aggies hit .431, easily the highest attacking percentage allowed by Baylor this season.
The Bears will return to action Saturday, hosting No. 1 Nebraska at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center. The Bears dropped a three-game decision to the Huskers last month in Lincoln.
