By Krista Pirtle
Sports Writer
The Baylor volleyball offense was stuck in neutral as the Big 12 leader No. 15 Iowa State Cyclones swept the Bears 3-0 (19-25, 14-25, 18-25.) Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
For the night, Baylor hit just .023 offensively with 29 errors, while Iowa State hit .252 with only nine errors.
“Iowa State played very well, and we had too many players off to mount a big run,” head coach Jim Barnes said. “We got good play from Allison King in the back row, but we just didn’t play well offensively.”
The Bears jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set thanks to three ISU errors and a kill by senior middle blocker Briana Tolbert and was up 12-7, but the Cyclones mounted a drive that didn’t end until the match was over.
In the second and third sets, Iowa State started out with an 8-3 lead in each. Baylor only got as close as four at 10-6 in the second set, but 10 attack errors and a -.068 hitting percentage in the set led to a 25-14 ISU win. In the third, Baylor scored three straight on kills by Alyssa Dibbern and Tolbert late in the set, but the lead was too large for the Bears to overcome, resulting in the clinch for Iowa State 25-18.
Iowa State’s defense racked up 13 total blocks on the night, a major factor in Baylor’s lack of offense.
Senior libero Allison King had a match-high 22 digs, the 20th consecutive match with double-digit digs.
On offense, no one for Baylor hit over a .180 hitting percentage.
Freshman utility Adri Nora recorded .176 with five kills.
Tolbert had a team-high eight kills, while Dibbern added six and junior setter Kate Harris had 28 assists.
Baylor will return 7 p.m. Wednesday to the Ferrell Center to host No. 8 Texas.
