Rice University
LSU
Owls Tripped By Tigers 3-1 In Opener
8/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 25, 2006
BATON ROUGE -- The youthful Rice volleyball team got the season off to a shaky start with a 30-11, 30-23, 28-30, 30-24 loss to Louisiana State on Friday at the LSU Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, La.
The match saw the collegiate debut of five Owls on the court, including freshman Jennifer McClean and redshirt freshman Ekaette Ibok in the starting lineup.
"We're glad the jitters are out," noted head coach Genny Volpe. "It was really good to see the team compete against another opponent, especially someone as strong as LSU. Unfortunately, we had such a shaky start, it was just too much of a deficit to overcome. I think once the team got comfortable and in a rhythm, we could run an offense and put LSU more on the defensive."
The host Tigers jumped out early in both games one and two. After a sluggish showing in the first frame, the Owls tried to get back on track in game two with an 8-2 run that knotted the score at 17. LSU, though answered back with a 7-0 run to take control of the game and pull ahead 2-0.
After the break, the Owls seemed to settle down in game three with a shuffled lineup that saw three true freshmen in the front row with McClean, Jessie Boulavsky and Natalie Bogan. After five early ties, LSU broke a 14-14 deadlock with a 4-0 run, but the Rice answered back as the teams began trading blows. The Owls knotted the score at 22 and twice took the lead with the Tigers clawing back. Three ties later and the Owls took the lead for good on a kill from junior Rachel Lopez.
The Owls hit .393 for the game with senior Tessa Kuykendall leading the way on five kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
Boulavsky scored the first point of game four, but the Tigers answered back with four-straight to regain the momentum. Although LSU pulled out to a 20-10 lead, Rice never gave up and scrapped back with a 12-6 run to trail by just four at 26-22. But the Owls could get no closer as the Tigers held on for the win.
Kuykendall finished the match with a team-best 10 kills, while sophomore Karyn Morgan added nine and McClean posted eight. Boulavsky was impressive in her debut, finishing with a .625 hitting percentage (5-0-8) after entering the match late in game two. Junior Yvette Kirk led the Rice passers with 13 digs. Morgan chipped in 12, as did Lopez, who also notched 32 assists in her first start as the Owls' setter.
"Tomorrow we are going to need more production from our outsides, we're going to need to be more disciplined on defense and we're going to need a sharper block if we want to contend with Penn State," said Volpe.
Tournament action concludes tomorrow when the Owls face No. 2 Penn State at 1:30 pm and Nicholls State at 5 pm.
