Rice University
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UTEP
Owls TCB in Flash over UTEP in Winning 3-0
11/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 21, 2008
Memphis, Tenn.-- The Rice volleyball team took care of business in a flash in Elvis Presley's hometown of Memphis, in winning 3-0 over UTEP in the quarter-finals of the Conference USA Championship. Game scores were 25-7, 25-22, and 25-16. The Owls (22-6) now face UAB in the semi-finals on Saturday at 4 p.m. Tulane faces Houston in the other semi-final at 2 p.m. UTEP concludes its season at 8-24.
"Obviously I was happy we won the match in three," said Rice head coach Genny Volpe. "We know what UTEP is capable of and they certainly have some very strong outside hitters. We were ready for a battle and our team came out really focused. I was really happy that we were able to take care of business and get the win."
The Owls won the only meeting with UAB during the regular season, winning 3-2 in Houston.
"Rice and UAB are too very different teams who do a lot of things very well," said Volpe about Saturday's match-up. "It should be exciting and I know we are fired up to play the match and I am sure they are too. So I expect it to be a quality volleyball match tomorrow."
The Owls started fast and furious in set one winning 25-7 as Jessica Holderness and Ashleigh McCord led them in kills with four and three kills respectively. Rice started strong with a 3-0 lead and improved upon it by forging a 16-7 margin. From there, the Owls outscored the Miners 9-0 for the win.
Rice totaled 13 kills to UTEP's 3 and hit .370, while the Miners were negative at -.188. The Owls also served up three aces and three blocks.
Set two saw the Owls behind early 4-2 before tying it at 13. The two squads battled back and forth until a Holderness kill gave Rice its biggest lead at 21-18. Karyn Morgan's kill made it 24-22 Rice and a Miner miscue gave the Owls their 25th point and a 2-0 match lead.
Junior Natalie Bogan led Rice with 5 kills, while Morgan totaled 4 kills. As a team, Rice hit .350 with 19 kills to UTEP's .243 and 13 kills. Meredith Schamun had 15 assists in set two for the Owls.
The Owls jumped out to a 9-4 early lead to start set three, but UTEP got no closer than 10-8 as Rice continually increased its lead to 17-10 and to 25-16. Morgan had 4 kills to lead the Owls in set three as Rice hit .281 with 13 kills. The Miners hit .122 with 11 kills.
On the night, Rice hit an outstanding .333 with 45 kills and only 12 errors in 99 attacks. Morgan was the only player on either side in double-figures with 10 kills. Owl setter Schamun had 36 assists, while libero Tracey Lam had a match-high 23 digs.
Jessica Holderness hit .368 (8-1-19) and Natalie Bogan hit .533 with 9 kills and 1 error in 15 attacks.
Amy Sanders led the Miners with 9 kills.
