Rice University
Southern Miss
Owls Down Eagles 3-1
9/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 21, 2007
HOUSTON -- Rice got back in the win column with a solid 30-15, 28-30, 30-23, 30-28 road win against Southern Miss on Friday night in Conference USA volleyball action in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Sophomore Jennifer McClean (Cy Fair HS) led the Owls with a career best 23 kills and 24 digs. Junior Jessica Holderness (Sycamore, Ill.) was next with 21 kills and added 16 digs. All told, five Owls posted double-digit digs in the match.
"Jennifer has really stepped up over the last couple of weeks and taken her game to a whole new level," noted head coach Genny Volpe.
After surrendering the first point of the match on a hitting error, Rice took complete control of the game with an 11-1 run and never looked back.
The Owls held the momentum in the early part of game two, jumping out to a 4-0 lead, but the Golden Eagles stayed close. The teams battled through three ties before USM took the lead. Rice closed the gap but couldn't turn the corner. With the Eagles up 26-22, senior Rachel Lopez (Prescott Valley, Ariz.) came off the bench to provide a spark for the Owls as Rice fended off a pair of game points. It wouldn't be enough as USM held on the tie the match at 1-1.
Rice seemed to regain the edge, jumping out to a 6-1 lead to open game three. Once again USM fought back to knot the score at 6-6 and the battle was on. With the momentum swinging back and forth, the teams fought through nine ties before Holderness blasted a kill to ignite a 4-0 run as the Owls took control. The Eagles tried to stay close, but kills from Holderness and McClean helped Rice close out on a 7-2 run.
The Owls looked as if they would pull away again in the fourth frame, but the Eagles kept them in check, ultimately tying the score at 27-27. With the hot hand, McClean out-scored USM 3-1 to close out the victory for Rice.
"This was a nice win for us," said Volpe. "The team focused on blocking in practice, communication, serving and just bringing a consistent attitude to the court. It's nice to see it all pay off tonight. Southern Miss was on a win streak, and we knew they had confidence coming in, so to win here is good.
"Rachel coming in really provided a spark for us. She had some key blocks and kills and that was critical for us."
As a team the Owls hit .209 for the night with 71 kills while limiting the Eagles to .102 and 49 kills.
Ashley Petrinec paced the Eagles with 13 kills and 17 digs.
Rice(6-8, 1-1) returns home after seven -straight road matches, hosting UCF on Sunday at Fox Gym in a 1 pm C-USA bout.
