Volleyball: Rice Blanks Fresno State
9/23/2004 HOUSTON ? On the strength of Kristina Hoban's first career triple-double, the Rice volleyball team opened the 2004 Western Athletic Conference race with a 30-28, 30-28, 30-27 victory over Fresno State Thursday night at Autry Court.
The match was a close battle throughout the first game as the Owls and the Bulldogs had 13 ties and exchanged the lead eight times. With the score knotted at 11, Fresno State started to pull away and led 19-15, before Rice called a timeout. The Owls rallied back to tie the score at 21, and six ties later closed out the set on a Rebeca Pazo kill.
Pazo had six kills to lead Rice in the opening set, while Hoban added four on .429 hitting (4-1-7). Olaya Pazo dug up 11 balls to anchor the Owls' defense.
The Bulldogs stormed out of the blocks in the second game, scoring the first five points and pushing the lead to as many as seven points (13-6). With Fresno State up 19-13, Lindsey Carter blasted a shot from Hoban to spark a 7-0 run and give Rice its first lead of the game. The Bulldogs answered back and led late (28-27), but the Owls would not be denied as they scored three-straight points, including a Rebecca Kainz and Olaya Pazo block to take the game.
Game three saw Fresno State slowly take an 11-7 lead, but once again, Rice mounted a comeback. Kainz blocked an attack to give the Owls a 15-14 lead, and despite five more ties, they would not trail again. Down four at match point, the Bulldogs scored three in their final comeback attempt, but a Rebeca Pazo tip kill from Hoban secured the Rice victory.
Hoban finished the match with 10 kills, 35 assists and 12 digs, while hitting a career high .563 (10-1-16). Pazo led all hitters with 16 kills, and Carter was next with 14, seven coming in game three. Olaya Pazo finished the match with 19 digs, while Yvette Kirk added 10. Kainz had a hand in five of the Owls' seven team blocks.
Fresno State was led by Christianna Reneau's 14 kills, while Kristen Fenton added 10. The Bulldogs put up a solid defense, blocking down 10 Rice attacks.
The win improves the Owls' record to 10-2 on the year and 1-0 in the WAC. Fresno State falls to 7-5 and 0-1 in league action.
Rice returns to action Saturday night, hosting Nevada in a 7 pm WAC match at Autry Court. |
