Rice University Athletics
Volleyball: Game Notes #9
10/24/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Owls will hit the road and travel to Tulsa for a one match road trip against the Golden Hurricane on Saturday, October 28, at 7 p.m.
Rice's Probable Starting Lineup (2000 per game averages)
RICE OWLS 2000 RECORD (14-10, 3-6)
OH 3 Klara Zelinka (zuh-LINK-uh) 6-0, Sr.-3L, Houston 2.6k, 2.9d
DS 5 Michelle Craven 5-7, Jr.-2L, Fort Worth 2.0d
OH 10 Rebekah Neal 5-9, Fr.-HS, Paramount, Calif. 1.0k, 1.3d
OH 11 Leigh Leman (le-MAHN) 5-9, Jr.-2L, Magnolia 3.9k, 4.0d
MB 9 Elizabeth Davenport Pollock 6-1, So.-1L, Bethesda, Md. 1.6k, 1.3b
OH 12 Karolina Zelinka (zuh-LINK-uh) 6-0, Sr.-3L, Houston 4.2k, 3.4d
RICE BENCH
OH 1 Remi Aderohunmu (ah-DARE-uh-moo)5-10,Sr.-3L, Irving
OH 2 Rhonda Sigman 5-8, Fr.-HS, Spring, Texas
MB 4 Briana Cook (BRI-an-uh) 6-1, So.-1L, Houston 1.8k, 1.4b
OH 7 Alison Broadfoot 6-0, Jr.-2L, Clear Lake 0.5k, 0.5d
S 8 Mariel Davenport Pollock 6-0, So.-1L, Bethesda, Md. 10.0a, 1.8d
OH 13 Allison Donohue 5-9, Fr.-HS, Los Gatos, Calif.
MB 14 Courtney Smith 6-0, Jr.-2L, San Diego, Calif. 1.3d, 0.4b
Rice Coach Julio Morales
Morales (Puerto Rico, 1974; M.Ed., Houston, 1975; Ph.D., Maryland, 1991) is currently in his fifth year as head coach of the Owls... He is 127-93 overall in his 10+ years as a head coach... He has compiled a 71-86 overall record in his years at the helm for the Owls... An internationally recognized coach, Morales has guided both mens and womens squads at the college and international level... As the head coach of the womens team at the University of Puerto Rico, Morales guided his alma mater to a 56-7 record over six seasons (1975-81)... Along with his 88.9 winning percentage, he led his womens teams to four University Athletic League Championships... Morales also served a pair of stints as the head coach for the Gamecocks mens team, 1986-87 and 1992-95... As the mens coach, he tallied a 58-20 mark with a championship and four runner-up finishes... He is assisted by Jose Santiago (Puerto Rico, 1993; M.A., Indiana State, 1998), who is in his fifth year with the Owls, and Tiffany Carrethers (Rice University, 1998), who is in her first year with the Owls after spending the past year and a half with the United States Professional Volleyball League.
Rice Versus The Field
The Owls have faced the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 10 times, and lead the series 9-1. Rice defeated Tulsa earlier this year at Autry Court, 15-13, 12-15, 15-1, 9-15, 15-10.
A Look Back
Rice has fallen on hard times the last few weeks, and haven't won a match since defeating Texas-San Antonio 3-0 at home on October 10. The Owls come into this match having lost their last five consecutive matches. Last week the Owls traveled to Southwest Texas State where they lost in three straight sets, 9-15, 12-15, 6-15. Leading the Owls was senior Karolina Zelinka who knocked down 18 kills on 59 attempts with only six errors (.203). Junior Leigh Leman posted a .270 hitting percentage behind 16 kills on 37 attempts and six errors, and collected 11 digs. Sophomore setter Mariel Davenport Pollock got her first start of the season and posted a career high 45 assists. Rice was back home at Autry Court this past weekend to host Nevada and #2 Hawaii. The Owls were able to snag one game from the Wolf Pack Friday night, but fell 15-5, 6-15, 7-15, 13-15. Zelinka again led the Owls and posted her 15th double-double on the year with 12 kills and 11 digs. Leman knocked down 10 kills and a match-high 20 digs for her 13th double-double for the season. Nationally ranked Hawaii continued their winning ways with a 15-8, 15-12, 15-9 win over Rice. Freshman Rebekah Neal got her second start of the season, and posted a personal best 21 assists. Leman hit .234 behind 16 kills on 34 attempts and five errors, while adding 15 assists and seven digs. The Rainbow Wahine handed Rice their fifth consecutive loss on the year.
Record Numbers
Senior Karolina Zelinka continues her climb to the top of the record book. She now stands in 3rd all-time at Rice with 1,386 kills, passing current assistant coach and former Owl, Tiffany Carrethers. Zelinka has collected 1,078 career digs, good for 2nd all-time, and needs just 52 to claim first place. Zelinka's younger sister, Klara Zelinka, cracks the top 10 in kills with 890 and passes Carrethers on the all-time digs list to move into 6th place with 965. She remains in 6th with 257 block assists and stays put at 7th with 278 total blocks. Eight is the magic number for sophomore Briana Cook, as she holds the 8th spot in solo blocks (34), block assists (218) and total blocks (252). Junior Leigh Leman moves up to 8th all-time in digs with a career total of 931.
Opponent Outlook
The University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane stand at 15-7, 1-7 in WAC play. They are led by senior Kristien Van Lierop who has tallied 278 kills for a .268 hitting percentage and has collected 209 digs. Senior setter Shannon Smith is averaging 11.42 assists per game, and has hit the court for 180 digs so far this season. The Golden Hurricane were shut out last week by nationally ranked Hawaii, 15-6, 15-5, 15-5. Tulsa was held to just .077 hitting percentage against the Rainbow Wahine. Head coach Matt Sonnichsen is in his third year at the helm of the Golden Hurricane.
Fabulous Freshman
Freshman Rebekah Neal has stepped up in the last few weeks for the Owls. She saw significant playing time at TCU, and knocked down a career high 16 kills. The following week at home against Nevada, she got her first start of the season and responded with nine kills, 17 assists, 16 digs and five block assists. The following night against Hawaii, she once again found herself in the starting lineup and posted a career high 21 assists while again knocking down nine kills. Rebekah had the highest hitting percentage of any Owl against the nationally ranked Rainbow Wahine, hitting .350.
Road Rules
The road has not been so friendly to the Owls this season. When not playing at Autry Court, Rice is 2-6. They have not won a conference game on the road so far this season, which amounts to an 0-3 conference road record. The Owls still have to travel to Tulsa, UTEP, Fresno State, San Jose State, and Hawaii, in addition to facing cross-town rival University of Houston on their home court November 1.
Notable Performances
Several Rice players have shown what their made of on the court this season. Senior Karolina Zelinka has tallied 15 double-doubles on the year, including a career high 33 kills and 20 digs at TCU this year. Senior Klara Zelinka has posted six double-doubles with her most impressive performance coming against the University of Dayton where she knocked down 15 kills and collected 15 digs. Junior Leigh Leman has 13 double-doubles on the year backed up by her personal best 32 kills against the University of Dayton along with 21 digs. Sophomore Mariel Davenport Pollock racked up 45 assists last week at Southwest Texas State, which is a career high for her.
Looking Ahead
Rice will face cross-town rival Houston next week at Hofheinz Pavilion on Wednesday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. in a non-conference showdown with the Cougars, before heading west to El Paso where they will face UTEP on Saturday, November 4 at 2 p.m. The Owls return to Autry Court on Tuesday, November 7 at 7 p.m. when they host Stephen F. Austin.
Rice in the WAC
Several Owls find themselves ranked among the leaders of the WAC. Briana Cook ranks second in blocks with 76 total (1.40 bpg). Elizabeth Davenport Pollock stands at fourth with 96 (1.29 bpg). In the kills category, Karolina Zelinka cracks the top five with 376 (4.22 kpg). She also leads the league in service aces with 36. Leigh Leman and Zelinka are #2 and #3, respectively, in the league in digs. Leman has tallied 347 (4.03 dpg) while Zelinka has 302 (3.39 dpg). As a team, Rice continues to lead the league in blocks, averaging 3.21 per game. The Owls also lead the conference in digs, with an average of 17.54 per game.
Meet the Owls
This week we meet the Allison's. Or is that Alison's? It depends on which one we're talking about. They may not have the spelling of their names in common, but they both hit left handed. Coincidence?
Junior Alison Broadfoot hails from Clear Lake, Texas where she was a three-year letterwinner and starter for the Falcons. She is a psychology/management/health science major at Rice, whose favorite color is blue and favorite food is fajitas. When the six foot outside hitter is not playing volleyball, she can be found spending time with friends and family. To prepare for a match, she listens to motivational music. Alison's goals include being accepted into a good business school where she will pursue her M.B.A. Although she likes Rice, and says the best thing about Rice is the academics, she'd like to go somewhere far away from Texas for graduate school. If she could be athletics director for a day, she would give the athletic programs more money to improve their facilities. Her most memorable sports moment came in junior high when her young team beat Webster Intermediate. "They were always undefeated!" she says.
Freshman Allison Donahue comes to Texas from the golden state of California. The 5-8 psychology major loves mozzarella cheese sticks and the color hot pink. When she's not playing volleyball she can be found talking on the phone, usually to her boyfriend. Before a match, you can bet that Allison is playing hacky-sack with fellow teammate Rhonda Sigman. One day she would like to work in advertising and maybe live in New York City. If she could be president of the United States for a day, she would go on a shopping spree! However, if she could be athletics director for a day, she would organize tournaments in "tropical places, with extra time to hang out." Allison says the best thing about Rice is her teammates. She's got a great future ahead of her with the Owls.
