Volleyball: Owls at Stephen F. Austin
11/9/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
On Tuesday, November 9, 1999, at 7 pm at Shelton Gym (1,500) in Nacogdoches Rice will face Stephen F. Austin. One non-conference match.
Series
Rice leads the series with Stephen F. Austin 13-7.
Rice's Probable Starting Lineup (1999 per game averages)
RICE OWLS 1999 RECORD (11-17, 2-7)
S 2 Soleil Thon 5-6, Sr.-3L, Sugar Land 8.8a, 2.5d OH 3 Klara Zelinka 6-0, Jr.-2L, Houston 3.2k, 3.3d OH 11 Leigh Leman 5-9, So.-1L, Magnolia 2.0k, 3.3d MB 5 Michelle Craven 5-7, So.-1L, Inglewood, Calif. 1.2b, 1.6k MB 14 Courtney Smith 6-0, So.-1L, San Diego, Calif. 1.5d, 1.2k OH 15 Kelly Smith 5-11, Sr.-3L, Edmond, Okla. 4.5k, 3.1d
Rice Versus The Field
Rice will be on the road Tuesday night for a non-conference match with Stephen F. Austin. The Owls lead the series with the Ladyjacks 13-7. In 1998, Rice dropped SFA 10-15, 15-4, 19-17, 15-12 in the first match of the season, sparking a nine-match win streak for the Owls.
A Look Back
After falling to crosstown rival, Houston, 5-15, 12-15, 8-15, Rice rebounded to take its second WAC win of the season, defeating UTEP 15-8, 13-15, 15-13, 15-6. The Owls struggled against Houston, hitting .171 and committing 12 service errors. Kelly Smith led the offensive attack with 17 kills. Rice recovered in its weekend match, boosting its hitting percentage to .200 and holding UTEP to .086. Leading the defensive effort was Leigh Leman who posted a team high 19 digs, and Briana Cook who knocked down eight blocks. On the offensive end, Klara Zelinka hit .485 with 20 kills and just four errors, Smith was the kill leader with 22. Four Owls recorded double-digit digs, and setters Soleil Thon and Mariel Davenport Pollock added 27 and 19 assists, respectively.
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 1,193 attacks this year, Smith entered the attempts list at eighth and has since moved up to third. Smith, who averages 43 attempts a match, needs 154 attacks to claim the title. Briana Cook has entered the season top-10 at the bottom rung with 109 total blocks, and has climbed to ninth on the block assists list with 95. Klara Zelinka has also leaped onto the charts with her team-high 310 digs, placing her 10th.
WAC Facts
Klara Zelinka is stationed at the top of the WAC dig list for the second week in a row, as is the team. Zelinka is averaging 3.41 a game and the team has 17.82 per game. Rice is second in blocks with 2.59 a game and Briana Cook is third individually with 1.24. Kelly Smith is the service leader in conference matches with .59 aces a game against WAC opponents.
Aces High
Briana Cook end the first game with UTEP by launching a serve over the net and coming up with an ace to give the Owls the 15-8 win. Cook, who doesn't normally play on the back row, was forced to serve because the Owls had used their allotted number of substitutes. Although the ace came as a surprise, Cook has actually fired off three additional aces in her limited serving attempts this season. As for the rest of the team, Rice has been inconsistent from behind the line, committing a season-high 12 serving errors against Houston. Kelly Smith and Klara Zelinka lead the team, each having notched five in a match.