Sept. 5, 2008
WACO, Texas - The Baylor Bears maintained their perfect start to the season as they defeated San Diego State in three sets (25-14, 25-22, 25-12) Friday evening at the Baylor Classic in Waco, Texas. With the win, the host school improved to 5-0 while the Aztecs saw their record fall to 2-3.
SDSU was led by middle blocker Lauren Salisbury, who finished with a team-high six kills and also had three digs and a block over the three sets. Freshmen teammates Lauren Van Orden and Kyley Sexton chipped in with five kills apiece and also had five and seven digs respectively. The seven digs matched the season high for Sexton.
Baylor's Brianna Tolbert led all players with nine kills while fellow Bears Katie Sanders and Ashlie Christenson each had eight.
The Bears had little trouble offensively for much of the evening as they hit .349 for the match. Their 11 team blocks were one of the factors that led to San Diego State recording a .078 attack percentage on the night.
Baylor came out quickly in the opening set and took control early in the contest. After taking the lead for good at 4-3, the Bears scored 10 of the next 13 points and never looked back. As a team, they hit .448 for the set while SDSU could muster just nine kills and a .077 attack percentage.
The second set was a different story as the score was tied on six occasions and there were five lead changes before the home side finally prevailed by three points. The Aztecs held a four-point advantage (20-16) late in the contest, but the Bears used three kills, a pair of service aces and four SDSU hitting errors to win nine of the set's final 11 points.
In set three, the story line was much like that of the opening contest. Baylor took the lead for good at 2-1 and won two points for every one by the Aztecs the rest of the way.
San Diego State concludes play at the Baylor Classic Saturday afternoon when it takes on Weber State at 12:30 p.m. (CST).