Rice University Athletics
Volleyball: Game Notes #10
10/31/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Owls face cross-town rival Houston on Wednesday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Hofheinz Pavilion on the campus of UH.
at UTEP (9-13, 1-8)
Rice heads west to face the Miners on Saturday, November 4 at 1 p.m. (MST).
Rice's Probable Starting Lineup (2000 per game averages)
RICE OWLS 2000 RECORD (14-11, 3-7)
OH 3 Klara Zelinka (zuh-LINK-uh) 6-0, Sr.-3L, Houston 2.5k, 2.9d
DS 5 Michelle Craven 5-7, Jr. 2-L, Fort Worth 1.9d
OH 10 Rebekah Neal 5-9, Fr.-HS, Paramount, Calif. 1.0k, 1.5d
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 1.0d
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, 0.5b
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 127-94 overall in his 10+ years as a head coach... He has compiled a 71-87 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 University of Houston Cougars hold a commanding lead in the series with the Owls, owning a 49-5 record. The Cougars defeated the Owls in 1999 15-5, 15-12, 15-8. Against UTEP, Rice leads the series 6-3 after defeating the Miners at home earlier this season 15-13, 15-10, 13-15, 15-4.
A Look Back
Rice played only one match last week when they traveled to Tulsa this past Saturday. The Owls were defeated in four games, 11-15, 8-15, 15-11, 9-15. Leading the charge for the Owls was junior outside hitter Leigh Leman. Leman had 17 kills on 38 attempts with only three errors (.368) and added 15 digs for her 14th double-double on the year. She also put up a personal best 23 assists and went up for three blocks, one solo. Senior Karolina Zelinka notched her 16th double-double on the year with 15 kills and 14 digs. Freshman Rebekah Neal continued her positive contributions with 20 assists and a career high 18 digs. As a team, the Owls were out-hit .131 to .197. Senior Remi Aderohunmu provided the spark for the Owls in game three when she entered the game with Rice down 11-9, and served up six straight points, including one service ace, for the game three win. The Owls and the Golden Hurricane split the 2000 season series.
Record Watch
Karolina Zelinka continues her quest for the number one spot all-time at Rice in digs. The senior needs just 38 more to claim the top spot. Zelinka also remains in third all-time in kills with 1,401, and cracks the top 10 in service aces with 115 total for her career. Her younger sister, Klara Zelinka, ranks 7th all-time in total blocks with 283, comes in at 6th all-time in block assists with 262, has 972 career digs, good for 6th place, and cracks the top 10 in kills with 894. Junior Leigh Leman continues her climb, passing current assistant coach and former Owl Tiffany Carrethers on the all-time dig list, to move into 7th place with 946. Sophomore Briana Cook ranks 7th in block assists (224) and total blocks (258) and is tied for 8th with 34 solo blocks.
Opponent Outlook
The University of Houston swept their last two opponents, defeating the University of Memphis 15-2, 15-3, 15-8 last Friday and knocking off Alabama-Birmingham on Sunday, 15-4, 15-6, 16-14 to improve to 17-5 overall, 10-2 in Conference USA action. The Cougars are led by senior outside hitter Jennifer Wittenburg, who has tallied 396 kills this season, and ranks second on the squad with 274 digs. Senior Bobbi Stewart ranks second on the team in kills, having knocked down 292. Leading the blocking is senior Michelle Frazier who has put up 90 total blocks this season, including 14 solo. Houston ended 1999 tied for first place in C-USA, with an overall record of 21-11, 13-3 in C-USA action. At the helm of the Cougars is Bill Walton, who is in his 20th year, 15 of those at Houston. He owns a 526-225 career record, 316-170 with the Cougars.
UTEP is fresh off a 3-1 loss to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders defeated the Miners 15-8, 10-15, 15-5, 15-10. UTEP is led by freshman outside hitter Jennifer Abbruzzese, who leads the squad in kills with 268, has collected 198 digs, and served up 27 service aces so far this year. Junior middle blocker Jaqui Nosan ranks second on the team with 250 kills, and leads the Miners with 95 total blocks. The Miners are currently on a six game losing streak, having not won a match since defeating Texas-Pan American on October 8. Head coach Revis Ward-Daggett is in her second season at the helm of the Miners, and owns a 119-123 career record.
Traveling Woes
The Owls' road performance woes continued wtih their loss at Tulsa last weekend. Rice is 0-4 in conference road games this season, 3-6 overall. Their only road wins came in September when they Owls bested Sam Houston State on September 6, North Carolina State (at the Wolfpack Invitational) and at McNeese State on September 26. Besides their road games this week, Rice must still travel to the west coast to face Fresno and San Jose State, and end their season at Hawaii.
Un-SET-tling Dilemma
With the departure of setter Nil Kalagoglu, the Owls have had to look elsewhere for their sets. Splitting time at qurterback has been freshman Rebekah Neal and junior Leigh Leman. Neal has put up 61 sets this year, including a career high 21 against Hawaii. Leman has added 80, with her personal best of 23 coming last week against Tulsa. Sophomore setter Mariel Davenport Pollock has also stepped in, posting a career high 45 assists at Southwest Texas State.
Losing Matters
The Owls are currently on a six match losing streak. Rice ended their season last year losing six in a row. Six seems to be the magic number for the Owls, as they lost six in a row during two different periods last year. The last time the Owls lost more than six in a row was in 1997, when they were defeated eight straight times.
Looking Ahead
The Owls will host Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday, November 7 at 7 p.m. before making their California swing. Rice faces Fresno State on Friday, November 10 and takes on San Jose State Saturday, November 11. The Owls then finish their home play on Thursday, November 16 against TCU, and SMU visits Autry Court on Saturday, November 18.
Rice in the WAC
Despite their up-and-down season thus far, several Owls find themselves ranked in the WAC. Sophomore Elizabeth Davenport Pollock ranks third in the league in blocks with 99 (1.27 bpg). Karolina Zelinka ranks fourth in kills with an average of 4.2 per game, while Leigh Leman comes in at 7th, averaging 3.93 per game. Zelinka also leads the league in service aces with 39. Leman finds herself leading the conference in digs with 362 (4.02 dpg), and Zelinka is third in digs with 316 (3.40 dpg). As a team, Rice leads the league blocks with 299.5 (3.22 bpg) and digs (17.51 dpg). The Owls have hit the court for 1,628 digs thus far this fall.
Rice in the NCAA
The Rice Owls are ranked the eighth best blocking team in the nation, including all matches through October 22. The Owls are averaging 3.22 blocks per game.
Meet the Owls
Finally, we meet the remaining two Owls. Sophomore Mariel Davenport Pollock is a 6 foot setter who hails from Bethesda, Maryland. She is an economics/English/art major at Rice. Her twin sister, Elizabeth, is a middle blocker for the Owls, and Mar (as she's known by her teammates) says that it's "cool" playing with Liz. They have a good connection, and they've played together for a long time, so they know each other's next move and can help each other out. Mariel says they have ESP. She chose her uniform #8 because she and Liz have always had a number next to each other, and since Liz had chosen #9, #8 was the logical choice. She chose Rice because of the academic and athletic reputation, but also because it is located in a different part of the country away from home. The redhead's favorite color is blue and her favorite food is chocolate. She enjoyed watching Kevin Costner in the movie The Bodyguard, and her favorite television show is MTV's The Real World. Something most people don't know about Mar is that she's quite artistic. She would help the homeless in the United States and aid the starving people in third-world countries if she had $1 million. The person she admires most is her grandmother because she was generous, kind, hardworking, smart and has been through so much in her life. Mariel's most memorable sports moment came in high school when her team won the state championships her senior year and went 20-0.
Freshman Rhonda Sigman is a 5-8 outside hitter from Spring, Texas. She is a managerial studies/mathematics economical analysis/art history major whose favorite color is blue. Her favorite food is Chinese and her favorite actress is Angelina Jolie. She is a fan of Thursday night's "Must See TV's" Will and Grace. She chose Rice because she felt it was the best education for her money. If she had $1 million she would live frivolously, and probably buy a new car. Rhonda would travel to France or Italy, if given the choice to fly anywhere in the world, because of the rich culture and history in those countries. Her most memorable sports moment was when her high school team made regionals two years in a row.
