Oct. 23, 2008

WACO, Texas - The sixth-ranked Baylor equestrian team will host fourth-ranked South Carolina on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Willis Family Equestrian Center.

"We are very excited to be competing against South Carolina," head coach Ellen White said. "We've competed against them twice and we've actually been pretty close to them both times, but we have never competed against them at home. I am really expecting the girls to win. I know they are ranked higher than us, but I will be disappointed if we don't win."

In Hunter Seat, Kendra Vicary, Nicole Brown, Lisa Goldman, Anna Banks and Kara Fergusson will compete in Equitation over Fences. Mary Smitson, Cara Wilson, Shelby White, Heather Healy and Margaret Beaudoin will ride for Equitation on the Flat.

Competing in the Horsemanship will be Lindsey Tomko, Allison Orosz, Meghan Murphy, Nicole McCoy and Lindsay Douglas. Madelyn Mooney, Amber Mooney, Katie Buss, Kim Marlowe and Valtie Riddle will ride for Reining.

Last weekend the Lady Bears defeated Kansas State (1294-1269.5) and coped with their first loss against fifth-ranked Oklahoma State (15-9). Baylor posted only two MVP honors between both tournaments with freshman Lisa Goldman against OSU and sophomore Kendra Vicary against KSU.

"I really feel about our team that it is in our power to beat anybody out there," White said. "I'd put any of my girls against anybody else. It's just some little mistakes we made at Oklahoma State and it just opened the door for them because they didn't make the mistakes. We also had some really challenging horses to ride. I really think the girls did a good job for the most part."

The No. 4 Gamecocks enter the competition 1-1, after two weeks off and their loss against the Auburn Tigers (10-6).