Volleyball: Rice Falls To Nevada in WAC Semifinals
11/21/2004 RENO, Nev. ? The second-seeded Rice volleyball team was upset by third-seeded Nevada 30-26, 31-29, 28-30, 30-26 in the semifinals of the 2004 Western Athletic Conference Championships on the Wolf Pack's home court in Reno, Nev., late Saturday.
With the loss the Owls fall to 25-4 on the year and must now wait until Nov. 28 and the NCAA selection show to find if their season will continue. Nevada improves to 20-7 on the year and faces undefeated and second-ranked Hawaii for the WAC tournament title on Sunday.
The Wolf Pack scored the first three points of the match and never looked back in game one. Nevada held a six-point lead at 25-19 when Tessa Kuykendall rallied the Owls with a kill and three blocks to close the gap to just one. The Wolf Pack held on down the stretch to take the first frame.
Nevada again jumped out to an early lead to go up 4-1 in game two. Rice kept things close and tied the score at 14 on a pair of aces from Kristina Hoban before the teams began trading points. After seven more ties, the Owls scored three straight to take a 27-24 lead. The Wolf Pack stayed close and with Rice serving for the game at 29-27 capitalized on Owl miscues to reel off four-straight points and took a 2-0 lead into the break.
The Owls stormed back in game three, scoring the first three points and jumping out to a 7-3 lead. Nevada fought back to knot the score three times, the last at 11-all, but Rice would not relinquish the lead. The Owls led by as many as eight at 26-18, but the Wolf Pack mounted a 5-0 rally to close the gap, then scored another four unanswered to trail 28-27. Rice held off the late surge with kills from Lindsey Carter and Hoban to take the game.
Neither team could gain the upper hand in game four, as the score was tied nine times before Nevada took a 13-9 lead. After trading points again, momentum looked to swing in favor of the Owls as Kuykendall and her teammates produced four-consecutive blocks to tie the score at 14. But the Wolf Pack answered back with a 5-0 run of its own and would not trail again.
Kuykendall finished with her second career kill-block double double, as she posted 15 kills on .387 hitting and 12 blocks, just one off her career high. Olaya Pazo paced the Rice hitters with 18 kills to go along with 10 digs and five blocks. Rebeca Pazo added 11 kills and 15 digs. Yvette Kirk recorded a match-high 19 digs in a solid defensive effort.
As a team the Owls out-hit the Wolf Pack, going .200 (67-29-190) compared to Nevada's .184 (67-34-179). Rice also held the advantage at the net with 16 blocks while Nevada had 11. The Owls, though, couldn't overcome an inconsistent serve that led to 13 errors.
Nevada's Salaia Salave'a and Carly Sorensen led all hitters with 20 kills each, with Salave'a adding 17 digs. The Wolf Pack had a solid back court defense, recording 81 digs with Tristin Adams leading the way with 18. |
