Volleyball Loses Five Game Battle To Baylor

Oct. 17, 2007

Box Score |

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

After a dramatic five-game match, the <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>University of Kansas volleyball team fell 3-2 to Baylor at the HorejsiFamilyAthleticsCenter on a stormy Wednesday night. Bad weather prevented the Bears from arriving in Lawrence on schedule and forced a half hour delay of the match.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

Following the match, both teams stand at an even 10-10 overall on the season and 3-7 in Big 12 matches.

Senior Emily Brown recorded her third triple-double of the season swinging for a team-high 14 kills while adding 27 assists and 14 digs. Also in double-digit kills were Natalie Uhart and Flavia Lino with 12 a piece and Karina Garlington who tallied 11.

Katie Martincich ran the Jayhawk offense with a team-best 31 assists on the night. Melissa Manda dug up 20 balls on defense and Savannah Noyes tied a career-high three solo blocks at the net.

KU opened game one with a 4-1 run but found itself trailing to the Bears after Baylor tied the score at five. Kansas battled back to even the game at eight, 14 and again at 22, but the Bears won eight of the last 10 points to notch a 30-24 victory.

After trailing by as much as seven in game two, the Jayhawks rallied back with 10 unanswered points with Garlington behind the service line. Brown recorded two kills and a block, while Noyes added a pair of solo blocks to help KU pull ahead 18-15. Baylor stayed close behind the remainder of the game until Brown tallied game point at 30-26 with one of her four kills of the game.

The Jayhawks opened the third game with four of the first five points once again and never trailed the rest of the game. Uhart registered the game-winning kill to edge Baylor 30-28 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Following the break, the teams traded the first eight points of game four. Baylor took the lead on an 8-2 run and never allowed KU back the lead as they tied the match at two games a piece with a 30-26 game four victory.

Kansas did not have an answer for the Bears’ offense in the final game as Baylor swung for a match-high .375 hitting percentage en route to its 15-11 win.

Kansas will head to Lincoln, Neb. this weekend to take on the No. 1 Cornhuskers. Match time has been set for 6 p.m.

Post Game Quotes:

Head Coach Ray Bechard

On the game:

“We ran into a situation when sadly the stats sheet looked pretty good other than our hitting efficiency where we had too many errors. Partly to do with Baylor’s blocking and partly due to us not making plays when we needed to. I was surprised because we prepared well and the team was extremely focused. I don’t know if jumping out in game one early gave us a false sense that things were going to go pretty easy tonight, but as everyone knows there is no such thing as an easy night in this league. Discouraging, disappointing that we can’t build any momentum after getting a 2-1 lead. When you get into a game five sometimes the volleyball Gods take over. That is not a position you want to be in. Give credit to Baylor. They played well after a tough day of travel and were a little better in the end than we were.”

On Emily Brown and Flavia Lino’s performances:

“Flavia (Lino) had 12 kills, three blocks. (Emily) Brown had 14 kills, 14 digs. Those are good numbers. Natalie hit for good efficiency and had six blocks. In the end we desperately needed a win tonight and didn’t get it done.”