Rice University
East Carolina
Owls Make Quick Work of the Pirates
10/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 12, 2008
Greenville, N.C. - The Rice Owls volleyball took care of business on Sunday by easily dispatching East Carolina 3-0 in only 59 minutes of work. Game scores were 25-19, 25-20, and 25-17.
Rice is now 13-4 on the season and 4-2 in Conference USA action, while the Pirates sink to 11-11 and 1-6 in C-USA.
"I'm proud of the team in winning two road matches by 3-0 scores," commented Rice head coach Genny Volpe. "The team executed the game plans against Marshall and ECU perfectly. It was an excellent team effort and another balanced attack. If we can keep our first touch strong like this past weekend, we will be able to use all of our personnel effectively."
Rice jumped on East Carolina early in set one, breaking a 5-5 tie to take a 13-7 lead that it would never relinquish. The Owls' serving (3 aces) and defense (10 digs) kept ECU on the defensive and the offense ran fast and powerful, with freshman Ashleigh McCord pounding four balls into the hardwood.
Set two saw the Pirates righting their ship by turning an 8-8 tie into their advantage at 16-13. ECU led 20-17 before the Owls countered with eight unanswered points to win the set. Senior Jessica Holderness led Rice with five kills in the second stanza as the Owls hit .346 with 14 kills. ECU hit at a negative percentage at -.042 (7 kills and 8 errors in 24 attacks.
The Owls started set three strong taking an early 6-2 lead that mushroomed to 18-10 before winning 25-17. Rice had 18 kills to have a .438 hitting percentage.
For the match, the Owls sported a .326 hitting percentage (44 kills) with McCord leading the way with 11 kills. Holderness (.529) and Karyn Morgan also had 9 kills apiece. Natalie Bogan had 8 kills and a .500 attack percentage.
Owl setter Meredith Schamun had 36 assists and Tracey Lam led all defenders with 11 digs.
Rice now plays Southern Miss on Friday at 7 p.m. (Central) and UCF on Saturday also at 7 p.m.
