Rice University
Central Arkansas
Owls Smack the Sugar Bears 3-1
8/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2009
Houston -- Rice defeated Central Arkansas 3-1 at the Mizuno Invitational Saturday afternoon in Tudor Fieldhouse. Game scores were 28-26, 24-26, 25-22, and 25-19. The Owls improved to 2-1, while the Sugar Bears fell to 1-1.
In the morning's first match, Oklahoma defeated Nicholls 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, and 25-13) to improve its record to 3-0. The Colonels, meanwhile, dropped to 0-2.
Down 24-23 in set one, the Owls were able to tie it on a Natalie Bogan kill. With the score knotted at 26, Rice scored the final two points of the set on a kill by Jessie Boulavsky and nice defensive play by Jenn McClean with a block solo to secure the set one victory.
Rice hit .312, led by Bogan's 5 kills (5-0-8-.625) and Meredith Schamun's 16 assists. Megan White led the Owl defense with 6 digs.
UCA hit .151 as Chloe Smith had 7 kills (.263).
The Sugar Bears captured set two 26-24. A Smith kill and a service ace by Cristin Curlin provided the final two points in an evenly played set. Smith had a set-high 8 kills for UCA, while the Owls were led by Ashleigh McCord and Bogan's 4 kills. Tracey Lam had 10 digs for Rice.
As a team, the Owls hit .075 to UCA's .156.
Rice hit .238 to win set three 25-22. The Owls were up 23-18, but the Sugar Bears fought back to be down only two at 24-22, before a McCord smash sealed the Rice win.
Bogan led Rice with 5 kills as McCord added 3. Smith led UCA with 5 kills as the Sugar Bears hit .122.
The Owls captured the match with a 25-19 set three victory. For the set, Rice hit .304 as Jessie Boulavsky led the attack with 4 kills. UCA hit .163 as a team and was led by Jessica Hays' 5 kills.
For the match, Rice hit .225 to UCA's .148. The Owls had three players with double-digit kills and were led by Bogan's 17. She was followed by Boulavsky's 14 kills and McCord added 11. Rice setter Meredith Schamun had 50 assists, while Tracey Lam led both teams with 27 digs.
The Sugar Bears' Chloe Smith had a match-high 23 kills, while Cristin Curlin had 22 digs.
Rice now hosts Houston Baptist at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
