Rice University
Tulsa
Owls Deflate Golden Hurricane in Winning 3-2
10/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2008
Tulsa, Okla. - The Rice Owls volleyball squad won its 18th match of the season with a 3-2 win at Tulsa. Game scores were 15-25, 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, and 15-11. Rice is 18-5 and 9-3 in Conference USA, while TU drops to 20-7 and 7-5 in league play.
Set one was all Tulsa as it began the match by scoring the first three points en route to 15-5 lead before winning 25-15. The Golden Hurricane hit .367 to Rice's -.031 and had 5 team blocks. Natalie Bogan led the Owls with 4 kills and a .500 attack percentage. Beth Hodge led TU with 5 kills and a .444 attack percentage.
Set two was a much different story as Rice was able to recapture its winning form in taking an early 15-11 lead. The Owls upped their biggest lead to six at 22-16 and that was the final margin at 25-19. Rice outhit TU 17 kills to 12 and in hitting percentage at .359 to .133. Jessica Holderness led Rice with 5 kills, with Meredith Schamun posting 12 assists.
The two rivals battled evenly throughout set three. TU held a slim 15-14 lead before scoring three of the next four points for the biggest lead of the set at 18-15. The Owls then countered by outscoring Tulsa 10 to 3 to be up two sets to one in winning 25-21.
Rice was able to hit .274 with 13 kills, while Tulsa struggled with a .030 attack percentage and 10 kills.
Set four saw the foes trading points during the whole set. The biggest lead by either team was two points before Tulsa pulled away late in winning 25-22 after it was tied at 21.
The Owls tallied 17 kills to Tulsa's 16 but was only able to muster a .255 hitting percentage as TU hit .316 to force a fifth set.
Rice started the fifth set by scoring six of the first seven points en route an 8-4 lead at the interchange. The Owls proceeded to forge an 11-5 lead with superior defense. Tulsa did manage to get within three at 13-10, but a Holderness kill gave the Owls their 18th victory on the year by winning 15-11.
Jessica Holderness led Rice with 17 kills and a .302 hitting percentage. She also had 18 digs. In double-figures as well in kills were freshman Ashleigh McCord with 13 and Karyn Morgan and Natalie Bogan each had 12. As team the Owls totaled 68 kills and a .239 attack percentage with Meredith Schamun totaling 52 assists.
Tulsa managed 59 kills and a .201 hitting percentage and was led by Beth Hodge's 21 kills and .292 hitting percentage.
Rice now plays at SMU (13-13, 5-7), 3-1 Friday winners over Houston, on Sunday at 1 p.m.
