Volleyball: Weekly Notes; Rice Takes On UTEP And Hawaii
10/6/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 7, 1999, at Autry Court (5,000) at 7:30 pm.
Oct. 9, 1999, at Autry Court (5,000) at 7 pm. Two conference matches.
Series
Rice has faced Texas-El Paso six times, and the Owls lead the series 4-2. The Owls have not defeated Hawaii in any of their four previous meetings.
Rice's Probable Starting Lineup (1999 per game averages)
RICE OWLS 1999 RECORD (8-10, 0-1)
OH 1 Remi Aderohunmu 5-8, Jr.-2L, Irving 1.9k, 2.7d S 2 Soleil Thon 5-6, Sr.-3L, Sugar Land 9.2a, 2.5d OH 3 Klara Zelinka 6-0, Jr.-2L, Houston 3.1k, 3.3d MB 4 Briana Cook 6-1, Fr.-HS, Houston, 1.0b, 1.6k MB 14 Courtney Smith 6-0, So.-1L, San Diego, Calif. 1.6d, 1.1k OH 15 Kelly Smith 5-11, Sr.-3L, Edmond, Okla. 4.4k, 3.0d
Rice Versus The Field
Rice will spend its second week in a row at home. The Owls will meet the Miners of Texas-El Paso Thursday at 7:30 pm and will face the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Saturday at 7 pm. Rice leads the series with UTEP 4-2, and defeated the Miners in their last meeting 15-9, 15-12, 15-3. UTEP stands at 3-11 on the season, and 1-1 in WAC play. The Owls have never beaten the Rainbow Wahine in four previous attempts. The two last faced in the 1998 WAC tournament where Rice took the first game but went on to fall 15-12, 1-15, 10-15, 6-15. The Wahine, currently 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference, climbed from third to second in the national ranking and remain on top of the WAC.
A Look Back
The Owls dropped their first WAC confrontation Saturday night at Autry Court. Rice fell to Tulsa in a 8-15, 7-15, 9-15 decision. The depleted Owls entered the match with nine healthy players after a week where as few as seven were able to practice. Kelly Smith led the Owl attack by knocking down 10 kills and Klara Zelinka added seven. Courtney Smith hit .417 on the night, launching six kills on 12 attacks. Soleil Thon put up 21 assists and 11 digs.
Leaders Of The WAC
Rice is still the WAC team leader for digs with 18.48 per game. Although the Owls slipped in the national ranking in the same category, they are currently ranked 13th. Klara Zelinka continues to lead the WAC in individual digs, posting 3.34 a game. The Owls are second on the WAC blocking chart with 2.48 per game, and third in team hitting percentages at .194. Zelinka and Kelly Smith remain the only WAC hitters this season to notch 30 kills in a match. Smith swatted 31 and Zelinka crushed 30 against Virginia. Leigh Leman is the solitary WAC player to have 30 digs in a match, achieving the mark against the Cavaliers.
Movin' On Up
Three seniors are making their way up the Rice career record charts. Kelly Smith has moved from seventh to fifth in kills with 1,267. She is 51 kills off the next mark. Soleil Thon has moved up one position in the assist ranking. She now stands at eighth with 776. Karolina Zelinka had climbed one notch to eighth with 1,010, before being sidelined with an injury.
Freshman Power
With injuries mounting for the Owls, the three newcomers to the team have found themselves in the regular rotation. Briana Cook has started five matches for the Owls, the only freshman to get the nod thus far. Cook has played in more games than any other Owl, making an appearance in 62 out of 63, and she has played in every match. Cook leads the team in blocks with 61 and averages 0.98 per game, second only to freshman Elizabeth Davenport Pollock. Although Pollock hasn't seen as much time on the court as Cook, she has still posted big numbers for the Owls. She is putting up 1.00 blocks per game, a team high, and had a career-best hitting performance against Tulsa, swinging .308 with five kills. Sister, Mariel Davenport Pollock, has worked her way into the Rice line-up as a setter. Mariel has tallied 160 assists, 3.64 a game, and 18 blocks. She is just 58 assists short of the first rung on the Rice top-10 list.
Surgery A Success
Defensive specialist Michelle Craven underwent surgery Friday to remove a bone fragment from her right knee. The surgery was successful and Craven is expected to return to the court for the Owls in 3-4 weeks. Craven, whose injury was the only non-tramatic medical complication for the Owls this season, is joined on the sidelines by Leigh Leman (severe ankle sprain), Karolina Zelinka (torn cartlidge in shoulder) and Nil Kalagoglu (dislocated ankle). Leman will remain on the bench for 2-3 more weeks, Zelinka will be re-evaluated in four weeks and Kalagoglu will not return this season.
Rice And The WAC On The Web
Updates on Rice athletics can now be found on the world wide web. Information on all 16 of Rice's athletic teams can be found at:
http://www.RiceOwls.com
Updates on the Western Athletic Conference as a whole can be obtained on the WAC homepage at:
http://www.wac.org