Rice University
Stephen F. Austin
Rice Rally Thwarted By SFA
9/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 15, 2007
HOUSTON -- Rice rallied from a slow start, but it wasn't enough as Stephen F. Austin State held on down the stretch to hand the Owls a 30-24, 25-30, 30-20, 24-30, 15-10 loss on Saturday in the Houston Tournament at the UH Athletics/Alumni Center.
Junior Jessica Holderness (Sycamore, Ill.) lead a quartet of Owls in double-figure kills with 20. Sophomore Jennifer McClean (Cy Fair HS) was next with 17, while sophomore Natalie Bogan (Oakland, Calif.) and freshman Caroline Gill (Fairhope, Ala.) added 14 and 13, respectively.
Sophomore Channing Grigsby (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) set up a career-best 59 assists. Senior Rachel Lopez (Prescott Valley, Ariz.) led the back-row defense with 15 digs, followed by 14 from freshman Tracey Lam (San Francisco, Calif.).
The Lady Jacks jumped out to an 8-1 lead to open the match and never trailed in the first game. SFA looked to continue the trend in game two, taking a 5-1 advantage, but the Owls came alive and tied the score at 7-7. After trading points, Rice launched an 8-1 run to take control of the game. The Lady Jacks fought off four game points, but a kill from Lopez ended the threat.
The teams traded 4-1 runs to open the third set then preceded to trade blows through eight ties and six lead changes. SFA grabbed the upper-hand, breaking a 10-10 tie, then slowly pulled away to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Owls came back strong in the fourth with Holderness scoring the first two kills in a 3-0 run. The Lady Jacks came back with three-straight points of their own, but Rice took advantage of a SFA service error to regain the lead and pull away to force a game five.
Neither team could gain the advantage as Rice and SFA traded points, before a pair of kills from J.J. Jones broke a 5-5 tie and put the Lady Jacks ahead for good.
The Owls (5-8) get back to Conference USA action on Friday with a trip to Southern Miss. Rice returns to Fox Gym on Sept. 23, hosting UCF at 1 pm.
