Colorado
Baylor
Gerlach's Career Numbers Fuel Buffs
September 17, 2002 | Volleyball
WACO, Texas - Junior middle blocker Monique Gerlach's career-high 27 kills helped power the University of Colorado volleyball team (7-4, 1-0) past Baylor University (6-4, 0-1) 27-30, 30-28, 30-18, 30-27 Wednesday night here at the Ferrel Center as CU recorded their first Big 12 victory in their 2002 conference opener. CU now leads the conference series 11-2 over the Bears and has taken four of the last six meetings between the two teams.
"This was a nice win for us tonight," Colorado head coach Pi'i Aiu said. "It's great to win on the road in the Big 12, and it's tough to win on the road in the Big 12, so this was a great way for us to start off. Monique had a great night, she is really starting to step it up and help lead this team. Sara Fredrickson also came through in another big match for us tonight, and we're going to continue to see more of her as she keeps improving."
Gerlach tallied a match-high 27 kills on 42 attacks with only four errors to record a match-high .548 hitting grade for the Buffs, adding six digs and four blocks to her cause. She has led the Buffs in kills in five of their 10 contests in 2002 and has recorded double figures in kills in eight. Senior middle Meghan Barkman tallied a season-high 16 kills for CU to add double-digit kill numbers while Fredrickson, playing on the left side, hit a season-high .467 with eight kills on 15 attacks with one error. Senior left side hitter Kim Taskey dug deep on defense with 10 digs for Colorado.
Stevie Nigholas recorded a double-double to pace the Bears, pocketing 24 kills and 12 digs as she hit .280 on the night.
Colorado returns home to continue Big 12 action when they host No. 17 Texas A&M Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Coors Events/Conference Center in Boulder. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
