Rice University
Houston (C-USA)
Rice Beats Houston 3-1
11/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 10, 2005
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HOUSTON - In their final regular-season appearance at Autry Court, seniors Kristina Hoban and Olaya Pazo led Rice to victory against cross-town rival Houston with a 32-30, 30-26, 29-31, 30-14 decision in Conference USA volleyball action Thursday night.
Hoban recorded her fifth triple-double of the season posting 10 kills, 52 assists and 12 digs. Pazo finished the night with her 22nd double-double of the year, and 16th straight, with 19 kills and 12 digs.
The Owls opened the match strong, jumping out to a 9-3 lead. The Cougars responded with an 11-2 run to grab the lead. The battle continued back and forth as the game featured a total of 19 ties with eight lead changes. A pair of kills from freshman Karyn Morgan gave Rice game point, but Houston twice fought it off. Finally, after a Cougar service error, Pazo put the game away with a kill from Hoban. Morgan pace the Owls with six kills in the frame.
Rice took an early 3-1 lead to open game two with kills from junior Tessa Kuykendall, Hoban and Morgan. Once again, the momentum began swinging from Rice to Houston as the Cougars rallied back and pulled out to a 12-9 advantage. The Owls chipped away at the margin, regaining the lead at 14-13 on kills from Morgan and freshman Jessica Holderness. After two more ties, Rice took the lead for good with a Hoban kill and a big block from Kuykendall and sophomore Rachel Lopez. Morgan, Kuykendall and Pazo each had six kills in the frame to lead the offense.
It was the Cougars turn to take the early momentum in game three as they jumped out to a 7-3 lead. They held that margin again at 12-8, but the Owls posted a 9-3 run to regain the lead. Kuykendall got in on four blocks during the rally. Houston knotted the score three times, the last at 21, before Rice looked to put the match away with an 8-3 run capped by a Morgan kill. The Cougars refused to surrender, fending off four match points to tie the score at 29 all, and went on to win with their 6-0 run. Houston's Becca Sartori had eight kills in the frame, including two late to lead her team.
After being denied the sweep, the Owls wasted no time taking control of game four with three-straight points from Kuykendall, two from kills and one off a block with Pazo. The Cougars tried to stay close, trailing by five at 16-11 when Hoban sparked a 6-0 Rice run with a kill off a pass from sophomore Yvette Kirk. Kirk served a pair of aces during the run as the Owls cruised for the win.
Morgan matched her career high of 21 kills to lead the Owls offensively. In addition to Pazo and Hoban's kill totals, Kuykendall recorded 14 in the match to go along with her season high 12 blocks for her first double-double of the year. Kirk led the Rice passers with 17 digs.
Sartori also finished with 21 kills to lead the Cougars while Jaci Gonzalez recorded 27 digs.
With the victory, Rice improves to 17-9 overall and 8-7 in C-USA. The Owls return to action next Thursday when they host the 2005 C-USA volleyball championship. The tournament is Nov. 17-20, and the bracket will be announced Sunday night.
