Rice University Athletics
Rice University
Tulane (C-USA Tournament)
Rice Falls To Tulane 3-2 At C-USA Tournament
11/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 17, 2005
HOUSTON - Rice suffered a 31-33, 30-23, 30-27, 18-30, 15-13 loss to Tulane in the opening round of the 2005 Conference USA Volleyball Championship on Thursday at Autry Court.
The Owls, seeded sixth in the tournament, were led by freshman Karyn Morgan's career-high 24 kills while junior Tessa Kuykendall added 20. Freshman Jessica Holderness chipped in 12 kills and a team best 12 digs on the night.
Kuykendall scored the Owls first two points. The Green Wave stayed tough in the early going though, building a 6-4 lead. Rice reeled off five-straight to take the lead. The Owls led by as many as six (25-19) before Tulane battled back to serve twice for the game. Rice finally took the frame with three in a row as Kuykendall finished with eight kills.
The Green Wave held strong in games two and three to take a 2-1 lead into game four.
With their backs against the wall, the Owls opened the fourth frame with five-straight points. Tulane closed the gap to a single point with a 5-1 run, but Rice would not be deny and slowly pulled away to take the frame and force game five.
After trading points to open game five, Tulane took off on a 4-0 run to seize the momentum. Rice fought back to a single point and fended off two match points, but the Owls couldn't turn the corner and the Green Wave's Sara Radosevic connected on her 26th kill to secure the upset for 11th-seeded Tulane.
The loss drops Rice's record to 17-10 on the year. The C-USA tournament continues at Autry Court through Sunday. The Owls close out the regular season next week, traveling to South Bend, Ind., to face top-10 teams Notre Dame and Louisville.
