Rice University
Texas Tech
Rice Falls In Heartbreaker To Texas Tech
9/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 6, 2005
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HOUSTON -- Despite a career high 25 kills from senior right-side hitter Olaya Pazo, Rice's 19-match home winning streak came to a halt Tuesday night in a 28-30, 30-27, 26-30, 30-25, 15-10 heartbreaker against Texas Tech at Autry Court.
The Owls scored first and jumped to an early lead in game one before the Red Raiders fought back to take a brief lead. Rice then took advantage of a Tech mis-hit to run off four straight points. The Raiders stayed close, knotting the score again at 26, but the Owls prevailed behind Pazo's six kills.
Game two was almost identical to the first as neither team was able to hold on to the momentum. After 13 ties, the Owls appeared to take the upper hand at 26-22, but the Raiders climbed back behind the tough serving of Desiree Batista and ran off five points to snag the lead and hold on for the win.
Tech continued to hold the momentum in the early going of the third frame, scoring the first four points. The Owls battled back to knot the score at 10, the first of nine ties. After a 19-19 tie, Rice pulled away closing out the set with Pazo's eighth kill of the game.
The Raiders took control of game four after breaking a 7-7 tie. They led by as many as six before winning the frame to force a decisive game five.
After four ties in the early going of game five, Tech scored four unanswered points behind Batista's serve and went on to win the match.
Including Pazo, five Owls posted double-figure kills with senior Kristina Hoban and junior Tessa Kuykendall recording 13 kills each, while sophomore Kristina Dennemann and freshman Jessica Holderness adding 10 a piece. Sophomore libero Yvette Kirk led the Owls back row defense with 16 digs, and on the net, Holderness recorded five blocks.
The teams were well matched in the close battle as Rice hit .289 with 78 kills for the match and Texas Tech hit .290 with 81 kills.
The Raiders' Philister Sang led all hitters with 27 kills, while Batista finished with 19 digs.
The loss is the first of the season for the Owls, who fall to 4-1, while the Raiders improve to 4-2. Rice next heads to San Antonio to face Oklahoma, UTSA and LSU in the Dome Rally at the Alamodome this weekend.
