Baylor Ends Big Week With Win Over GPS

Lady Red Raiders Earn Day Off Following 10-1 Stretch

  • Monday, September 15, 2014
  • John Hunt

The Baylor volleyball team probably doesn't get many days off during the week in midseason, but they earned a day off on Tuesday following a long and successful stretch in the last eight days.

The Lady Red Raiders, won 10 of 11 matches in the last eight days, including a big win over arch-rival GPS on the road Monday night.  As a result, coach Sarah Lail urged her girls to do something other than play volleyball on Tuesday.

Baylor improved to 25-4 overall and 5-0 in D-II region play following Monday's 3-1 win over the Bruisers.

With the exception of the third set in which GPS prevailed by a 25-21 final, Baylor was quite impressive as they won the first two sets by scores of 25-16 and 25-8 before sealing the deal with a 25-9 win in the final set of the day.

Cassie Elrod, a Baylor senior and one of the team captains, was credited with two aces and nine digs, but her value came from the service line as she recorded nine straight points in the second set as a 5-2 lead swelled to 14-2.  It never got closer as Baylor took the 2-0 lead.

Then in the fourth set when the Bruisers tried to get even after winning the third set, Elrod went to the service line again with her team leading 14-9.  This time, the spunky senior uncorked 11 straight points as Baylor finished the match on a roll.

"GPS has always been a big rivalry, but we have a lot of fun when we play them.  I've played softball and volleyball with them for a long time and we're really good friends.  We hug and talk before the match begins, but we act like we don't know each other when it starts," she laughed.

"I thought we played well except for the third one, but I love to serve.  I learned the overhead serve when I was in the sixth grade, but I'm a lot better at it now than I was then," Elrod nodded with a smile.

Baylor's Lail was happy for the most part, but that third set didn't sit well with her team and she let them hear about it during a couple of timeouts.  Despite that fact, she was smiling when it ended.

"I'm just glad to get out of here with a win.  We've had a really busy week where we won all but one match, so I'm happy with that and they get a well-deserved day off tomorrow," she said.

 "I thought we played well for the most part, but we had a lot of miscommunication in that third set.  We didn't answer or respond to what GPS did,  but we were able to get the ball to our big hitters and they finished the job.  We have several outstanding players, but we also have some good ones that other teams don't know much about," she added.

GPS coach Paul Brock has watched his young team get better as the season has progressed and he was optimistic about the future when this one ended.

"To lose the first two sets like we did and come back in the third was great.  I can count on one hand the teams who have won a set against Baylor, but we rose to the occasion.  Our blockers didn't do a very good job of slowing their outside hitters, but we showed up and competed against a very good Baylor team and this was good for us," he said while taking a break once the gym had cleared.

"I didn't know if we could overcome Baylor's power in that third set, but we did and I'm really proud of that.  Baylor kept a lot of balls alive that normally go down, but we found out this week that we can compete at a high level.  Baylor is in mid-season form and we'll still learning, but l'm really proud of the way we battled today," he added.

Sophomore Gabby Gray, certainly the most celebrated of the Baylor hitters, finished with 20 kills while junior Haven Bethune had a triple-double with 14 kills, 14 assists and a dozen digs.  She also had a half-dozen aces.

Sarah Sumida also had a good match with 22 assists.

Senior Reagan Williams played her heart out and finished with 17 assists, eight digs and four kills in addition to three aces while Cami Shands had 11 kills.  Lilly Berger and Angela Bonds finished with nine and seven kills, respectively, while Jenna Simpson had 11 digs.

GPS is now 13-16 overall and 1-4 in region play.  The Bruisers return to action on Wednesday with a match at East Ridge.  Baylor will also be on the road Thursday for a match at CSAS.

BAYLOR STATS:

Jane Wilson -- 6 kills, 1 block

Haven Bethune -- 6 aces, 14 kills, 14 assists, 12 digs

Cassie Elrod -- 2 aces, 9 digs

Lilly Turner -- 1 ace, 2 assists, 10 digs

Sarah Sumida -- 4 aces, 22 assists, 5 digs

Gabby Gray -- 20 kills, 1 block, 4 digs

Ashleigh Cook -- 1 kill, 3.5 blocks, 1 dig

Lexy Hellerstedt -- 6 kills, 1 block.

GPS STATS:

Lilly Berger -- 9 kills, 2 aces, 10 digs

Hannah Kincer -- 1 kill, 1 block

Courtlyn Martino -- 1 kill, 5 digs

Jenna Simpson -- 11 digs, 1 ace

Helen Johnston -- 1 block

Angela Bonds -- 7 kills, 2 digs

Mackenzie Hobbs -- 8 digs, 1 ace

Reagan Williams -- 4 kills, 17 assists, 3 aces, 8 digs

Gabby Hughes -- 8 assists, 1 ace, 1 dig

Cami Shands -- 11 kills, 1 block, 7 digs.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)

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