Rice University
Houston
Rice Beats Houston 3-0 in Volleyball
10/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2009
Houston -- Ashleigh McCord pounded 13 kills to lead the Rice Owls volleyball team to a 3-0 Conference USA victory over the University of Houston in a match played at UH's Athletics/Alumni Center. Set scores were 25-15, 28-26, 25-23. The Owls are now 12-4 overall and move into a tie for first place with a 4-1 C-USA record. The Cougars fall to 6-14 overall and 3-2 in league action.
Besides McCord, senior Jenn McClean had 9 kills and 13 digs. Caroline Gill had one of her better hitting nights with a match-high .412 hitting percentage with 8 kills (1 error) in 17 attacks. Gill also contributed at the net with 4 block assists. Natalie Bogan also had 8 kills and 4 block assists as well.
"We knew we had to focus after a tough loss on Sunday against Tulane and coming into an intense environment at Houston," commented Rice head coach Genny Volpe. "We believed we had an excellent game plan and needed the team relax and execute it, which it did. To win this match in three sets is something to be proud of."
Rice setter Meredith Schamun had 35 assists and Owl libero Tracey Lam dug up an astonishing 25 digs (8.33 dig per set average).
UH was led by Kinsey Cave's 13 kills, while setter Tara Roenicke had 25 assists and 5 block assists.
The Owls exhibited strong defensive play to win the first set 25-15. For the set, Rice had 25 digs to the Cougars' 15. Rice was also pretty effective on offense as well with 18 kills and a sterling .385 hitting percentage. Meanwhile, UH posted 11 kills with an .111 attack percentage.
Ashleigh McCord led Rice with 5 kills, while Jenn McClean added 4. Tracey Lam also had 11 digs in the first set for Rice.
Set two was more tightly contested than the first set. UH took an 18-14 lead before Rice rallied to take a 21-20 lead. With the score tied at 25, McClean served an ace and a Houston hitting error provided the final two points for the Owls.
Rice hit only .068 with 12 kills, but Houston hit .000 with 9 kills. Rice also had five team blocks. UH's Kinsey Cave led all attackers in set two with 6 kills.
The Owls fell behind early in set three losing 7 to 3 when Coach Volpe called for a timeout. After the T.O., the Owls responded by scoring 9 of the next 11 points to forge a 12-9 lead. UH, however did not falter, and rallied to an eventual 20-19 lead. The Owls then tallied 6 points and held the Cougars to just 3 more points for a 25-23 win.
Rice now hosts Tulsa on Friday at 7 p.m. and SMU on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both matches take place inside Tudor Fieldhouse.
