Rice University
Marshall
Owls Fall To Herd In Tough 3-1 Decision
10/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2007
HOUSTON -- Facing off with the Conference USA leader, Rice lost a hard fought battle to Marshall 28-30, 32-30, 30-24, 30-25 on Friday night at Fox Gym.
The Owls showed a balanced attack in the match with junior Jessica Holderness (Sycamore, Ill.) and sophomores Natalie Bogan (Oakland, Calif.) and Jennifer McClean (Cy Fair HS) posting 18 kills each to lead the way. Holderness also led the Rice back-row defense with 23 digs, while Bogan matched her career best of nine blocks for the second-straight match.
"With three players each getting 18 kills, Meredith (Schamun) did a great job of distributing the offense," said head coach Genny Volpe. "I thought the whole team attacked well."
The Thundering Herd opened strong, scoring the first three points then building an 8-3 lead. The Owls didn't surrender and began to slowly chip away at the margin and closed to a single point at 23-22. Marshall scored two straight, but Rice was beginning to seize control of the momentum.
The Owls fired off three kills from freshman Caroline Gill (Fairhope, Ala.), sophomore Jessie Boulavsky (Clear Brook HS) and McClean to knot the score at 25. After trading points, Bogan scored on a kill to give Rice its first lead of the game. The teams continued to trade points before Bogan and freshman Meredith Schamun (Murrieta, Calif.) each posted kills to close out the game win.
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"This was one of the most intense matches we've played this year, if not the most," noted Volpe. "Every point was a battle. In the end is was key mistakes at bad times."
The momentum swung back and forth in the third frame as Marshall used a 6-0 run to go up 8-2. Rice kept answering back and twice took one-point leads, the last at 19-18. The Herd then launched a 7-0 run and never looked back as they took a 2-1 lead in the match.
The action intensified in game four as neither team could gain the upper hand. The Owls looked to pull away, taking an 11-8 lead, but the teams continued to trade blows as the Herd fought back. After Holderness tied the game for the 13th time at 23-23, Marshall scored four straight to take the lead for good.
Marshall's Kelly-Anne Billingy led all hitters with 26 kills while Cahill finished with 18.
"Now we are looking to bounce back and have a consistent and steady performance against ECU," said Volpe.
The Owls, now 10-13 overall and 5-6 in C-USA, host East Carolina on Sunday in a 1 pm match at Fox Gym.
