Rice University
Texas State (NCAA 1st Round)
Preview: Owls Get Rematch with Texas State in NCAA Tournament
11/28/2018 10:35:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Match to begin at 4 p.m. on Longhorn Network
Rice Owls (24-6) vs. Texas State Bobcats (26-6)
NCAA First Round, Thursday, Nov. 29, 4 p.m. (CT)
Austin, Texas • Gregory Gymnasium
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Live Stats: Sidearm
Video Stream: Longhorn Network
Twitter Updates: @RiceVolleyball
Series Record: Rice leads, 17-11
NEWS & NOTES
*The Owls are making their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, first since 2009, after winning the Conference USA Championship tournament with a 3-0 sweep of FIU in the title match on Nov. 18 in Huntington, WV. In the other three occasions Rice made the NCAA Tournament, each one occurred in Austin (2004, 2008, and 2009) going 0-3 with losses to Michigan (3-1), Wichita St. (3-1), and TCU (3-0), respectively.
*Rice and Texas State have played in each of the last two years, including a five-set thriller earlier this year back on Sept. 4 when the Bobcats handed the Owls their only home loss (13-1) of the season. The two teams also met in the opening round of the NIVC in 2017 with Texas State sweeping the Owls, 3-0.
*Should the Owls win they would face the winner of Texas/Stephen F. Austin on Friday at 8 p.m. Rice and the Ladyjacks played a five-set thriller back on Sept. 11 in Nacogdoches with SFA outlasting Rice in five sets. From that point on the Owls went on to win 15 straight matches. Rice has not played Texas since 2015 and would be looking for their first-ever win (0-36) against the Longhorns.
*Rice won the C-USA regular season title for the first time in program history and breezed through the conference tournament, losing only one set. Freshman middle blocker Anota Adekunle was named the tournament MVP while sophomore outside hitter Nicole Lennon, junior middle blocker Grace Morgan and freshman setter Carly Graham were also named to the all-tournament team.
