Rice University
Michigan
UM Downs the Owls 3-0
8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2008
Michigan won the Mizuno Invitational by defeating Rice 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-15) in front of a packed house at Fox Gym. The Wolverines won all three of its Mizuno Invitational matches by 3-0 scores to improve to 3-0 on the year. The Owls are now 2-1.
UM started strong in set one to take an early 14-8 lead, but then proceeded to outscore Rice 11-8 to win the first set.
The Owls again started slow in set two to fall behind 15-8. Rice closed the gap to 17-18 and was able to tie the set at 24-24 after two blocks, before Michigan scored the final two points.
Game three was knotted at 5-5 and then the Wolverines went on a 8-1 run to distance themselves and win set three 25-15.
It is this type of competition that will only help the Owls down the road.
"Playing a tough opponent like Michigan early in the season is only going to make us stronger once we get into conference play," said Rice head coach Genny Volpe. "I wish would've executed better offensively, but Michigan was an aggressive seving team and we were not. That was a big difference in the outcome."
For the match, Michigan outhit Rice .297 to .164. The Wolverines' Megan Bower led all hitters with 14 kills for a match-high .464 hitting percentage. Rice was led by Natalie Bogan and Karyn Morgan who each had 7 kills. Rice's Tracey Lam had a match-high 16 digs.
Mizuno Invitational All-Tournament Team
Kelly Rowland, UTSA
Natalie Bogan, Rice
Juliana Paz, Michigan
Beth Karpiak, Michigan
Lexi Zimmerman, Michigan
Libero: Tracey Lam, Rice
MVP: Megan Bower, Michigan
