Rice University
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Defeats Rice Volleyball 3-0
8/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2009
HOUSTON -- In the Mizuno Invittational hosted by Rice University, the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Rice Owls volleyball team 3-0 in Friday's late game in front of 1,429 fans in Tudor Fieldhouse on the Rice campus. Game scores were 25-22, 25-11, and 25-23.
OU is now 2-0 on the year, while Rice falls to 1-1.
Set one saw the Sooners battle back from a 21-19 deficit and outscore the Owls 6 to 1 to win 25-22. Both teams hit .286, while Rice's Ashleigh McCord led all attackers with 7 kills as Meredith Schamun posted 16 assists.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 5-0 lead and then extended it to 16-6. The Sooners were in control and won the set 25-11, by hitting .469 (16-1-32) compared to Rice's .054 (9-7-37). OU's Suzy Boulavsky led all hitters with 6 kills. Oklahoma also had 18 digs to the Owls' 11.
It was a tightly contested set three as Oklahoma won 25-23. The score was 21-21, when OU pulled away with the final four points of the contest. The Sooners hit a robust .318 with 20 digs, while the Owls hit .186. Bridget Laplante and Sarah Fredenrich led OU with 5 kills, while McCord and Jenn McClean led the Owls with 4 kills apiece.
For the match, the Sooners hit .347 with 9 blocks and 57 digs. Rice hit .180 with 2 blocks and 48 digs. Rice's McClean had 14 digs.
Oklahoma had three players in double-digits kills. Suzy Boulavsky, Francie Ekwerekwu, and Freudenrich all had 10 kills. Ekwerekwu hit .526 (10-0-19) to lead all hitters. Kylie Cowan had a match-high 16 digs, while Brianne Barker had 15 digs and Caitlin Higgins had 14 digs.
McCord led Rice with 11 kills, while Jessie Boulavsky contributed 9 kills, and McClean followed with 8.
Central Arkansas defeated Houston Baptist in the evening's first match 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, and 25-21).
The Owls now host Central Arkansas at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and Houston Baptist on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m to wrap up the Mizuno Invitational.
