Rice University
Tulsa
Tulsa Wins Five-Set Thriller Over Rice
10/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2008
In a thrilling five-set Conference USA volleyball match, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane defeated Rice 3-2 Sunday afternoon in Fox Gymnasium. Game scores were 19-25, 13-25, 25-21, 37-35, and 12-15.
Tulsa improves to 15-4 overall and 2-2 in C-USA play, while the Owls are now 10-4 and 2-2 in league action.
The Owls came out flat in the first two sets as Tulsa pounded 37 kills to Rice's 19 to take a 2-0 lead.
"Tulsa was more aggressive in the first two sets and played phenomenal defense," said Rice head coach Genny Volpe. "Their defense took us out of rhythm in those first two games."
Rice came back to win set three 25-21 behind senior Jessica Holderness's 7 kills and junior Natalie Bogan's 5 kills. Rice hit .265 to Tulsa's .152 in set three.
Set four saw Rice stave our eight match points to win a tension-filled fourth set 37-35. The Owls captured the final two points on an assisted block by Meredith Schamun and Bogan and a Tulsa attack that sailed beyond the endline.
Rice freshman Ashleigh McCord smacked 7 kills in 10 attacks to lead all hitters in set four. Rice hit .250 (22-8-56) to Tulsa's .193 (21-10-57) as the Owls also tallied 6 team blocks to 1 for the Golden Hurricane.
In the deciding fifth set, Tulsa, with a 10-9 lead outscored Rice 5 to 3 to win the match.
"We focused more on defense and made some personnel adjustments in sets three and four," commented Volpe. "In the fifth set we did not finish easy plays and made errors instead."
For the match, Tulsa hit .248 (80-29-206) to Rice's .197 (67-25-213. Jessica Holderness led Rice with 17 kills, while Ashleigh McCord added 16. Tulsa was led by Beth Hodges (22 kills) and Hannah Stout (21 kills). Tulsa libéro Malorey Grove had a match-high 34 digs.
The Owls now host McNeese State on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Fox Gymnasium.
