Owls Set To Begin Road Trip
10/17/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 17, 2013
Friday at UTSA (7 p.m.): Tickets | GameTracker | Rowdy Zone
Sunday at UTEP (1 p.m.): Tickets | | Miner TVRice Match Notes 
HOUSTON - The Rice University volleyball team will be riding a bit of momentum off back-to-back home conference victories last week when they travel to both UTSA (Friday) and UTEP (Sunday) this weekend.
Friday's match begins a stretch where Rice will play six of the next eight contests on the road, which includes five of six from now until Nov. 7. The Owls lone home game will be Oct. 27 versus North Texas.
Scouting the Roadrunners (13-7, 5-1 Conference USA)
• The Owls are 13-1 all-time against the Roadrunners and have won four straight in the series.
• Last season Rice defeated UTSA 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 22-25, 25-11) on Aug. 28. Nancy Cole led the Owls with 14 kills while Mariah Riddlesprigger posted 10. Four Owls recorded double-digit digs, including a team-best 16 from Riddlesprigger.
• UTSA, second in C-USA, saw their five-game conference win streak come to an end last time out at Middle Tennessee (3-0). Prior to that the Roadrunners won by a combined sets score of 15-2. Senior outside hitter McKenzie Adams leads the team with 382 kills (5.31/set) while freshman outside hitter Dajana Boskovic is second with 193.
Scouting the Miners (10-7, 4-2 Conference USA)
• Rice holds a dominant 29-8 series advantage over UTEP and has won five straight meetings between the two teams.
• Last season the Owls went 2-0 (3-0, 3-2) against UTEP and after beating the Miners 3-0 in Houston on Oct. 15, the Owls were pushed to five sets in El Paso. Nancy Cole led the Owls that day with 21 kills while Jillian Humphrey added 13. Four Owls had double-digit digs in the victory, allowing Rice to move to 9-2 in C-USA at the time.
• UTEP, tied for fourth in C-USA, has won seven of their past nine matches but is coming off a 3-0 loss at Southern Miss last week. The Miners are 6-1 at home with their lone loss coming to Oral Roberts.
