Volleyball: Rice Travels to Hawaii
11/17/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
On Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999, Rice will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii, where the Owls will take on the Rainbow Wahine at 11 pm CST at the Stan Sheriff Center (10,225).
Series
Rice has never beaten Hawaii in five previous meetings.
Rice's Probable Starting Lineup (1999 per game averages)
RICE OWLS 1999 RECORD (11-20, 2-9)
S 2 Soleil Thon (so-LAY)
5-6, Sr.-3L, Sugar Land 8.6a, 2.6d
OH 3 Klara Zelinka (zuh-LINK-uh)
6-0, Jr.-2L, Houston 3.4k, 3.4d
DS 5 Michelle Craven
5-7, So.-1L, Fort Worth 2.3d
OH 11 Leigh Leman (le-MAHN)
5-9, So.-1L, Magnolia 2.2k, 3.7d
MB 14 Courtney Smith
6-0, So.-1L, San Diego, Calif. 1.3d, 1.2k
OH 15 Kelly Smith
5-11, Sr.-3L, Edmond, Okla. 4.6k, 3.1d
Rice Versus The Field
The Owls will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii this week for their second match
of the season with the Wahine. Hawaii is undefeated in the series with
Rice, having defeated the Owls five times. In Houston earlier this year,
the Wahine captured the 15-8, 15-1, 15-7 victory.
A Look Back
Rice opened the week with a non-conference road match against Stephen F.
Austin without the services of Soleil Thon and Courtney Smith, who were
recovering from illnesses. The Owls were hampered by the loss as Klara
Zelinka and Kelly Smith were the only members of the team to notch
double-digit kills, tallying 12 apiece. The Ladyjacks took advantage of the
short-handed Owls and captured the win 15-4, 15-11, 15-12. Rice then
returned home, looking to improve its WAC record with matches against San
Jose State and Fresno State. Hoping to get back into the win column against
the Spartans, the Owls came out swinging, but lost the opening game 12-15.
San Jose State shut down Rice's offense for the remainder of the match. The
Spartans held Smith and Zelinka to 11 and 10 kills, respectively, dropping
the team hitting percentage to .101, as San Jose State cruised past a close
first game to claim the 15-12, 15-1, 15-7 win. In their third match of the
week and their final home match of the season, the Owls prepared to take on
Fresno State. But despite 26 kills from Smith and 20 Leigh Leman, Rice
couldn't hold off the Bulldog attack, falling in the nail-bitter 6-15,
17-19, 15-11, 15-9.
Making History
Kelly Smith has been leaving her mark on the Rice record book all season,
recording single match and career top-10's. As 1999 winds down, Smith is
starting to climb her way up the season top-10 list. Having collected 1,337
attacks this year, Smith entered the attempts list at eighth and has since
moved up to second. Smith, who averages 13.4 attempts a game, needs 10
attacks to claim the title. Briana Cook entered the season top-10 at the
bottom rung and has since climbed to seventh with 125 total blocks, and has
moved to fourth on the block assists list with 110. Klara Zelinka, who
tallied 344 digs in her first two seasons, has recorded a team-high 346
digs in this season alone, placing her fourth on the season top-10 chart.
Zelinka, who is only a junior, is also among the career leaders in
blocking, ranking ninth in both block assists with 185 and total blocks
with 199.
Senior Salute
The Owls' two seniors, Kelly Smith and Soleil Thon played their final home
match in a Rice uniform Nov. 13 in a four-game losing effort against Fresno
State. In her four seasons at Rice, Thon recorded a total of 1,033 assists,
which is the seventh highest in school history. In her last match at Autry
Court, she posted career-highs of 62 assists, five kills, 17 attempts and
five blocks. Smith, who has served a team captain the past two years, is
finishing her career as one of the best hitters ever at Rice. She set the
school record for total attempts in a match with 92 against Virginia and is
currently second the Rice season records list with 1.337 attempts this
year. She has recorded 1,484 kills in her four seasons as the Owls' top
outside hitter, which ranks second highest in school history.
Double-Trouble
Outside hitters Kelly Smith and Klara Zelinka have been offensive bookends
for the Owls for much of the season. Smith, who is the team kill-leader
averaging 4.56 a game, has landed double-digit kills in 26 of the Owls's 31
matches. Smith has posted better than 20 kills in four matches and holds a
season-best 31 kills against Virginia. Zelinka leads the team in digs with
3.43 a game as she pulls double-duty on the offensive front along with
Smith. She is second to Smith in kills per game, averaging 3.37, and has
notched 10 or more kills in 19 matches this season. Zelinka has two 20-kill
performances, including her career-high 30 kill outing against Virginia.
Fabulous Freshmen
All three of Rice's freshman have been called on to perform like
upperclassmen this season as the injury-ridden Owls were forced to practice
with as few as seven healthy players at times throughout the year. Stepping
up in a big way, middle blocker Briana Cook has started 13 matches in her
first season of collegiate play. Cook leads the team with 1.28 blocks an
outing and has collected 125 total blocks this year. Setter Mariel
Davenport Pollock has split quarterback time with senior Soleil Thon, and
is averaging 4.35 assists per game. Her sister Elizabeth Davenport Pollock
is maintaining a .202 hitting percentage to go along with 59 total kills
and 37 total blocks in 48 games.