No. 21 Owls Earn First-Ever NCAA Tournament Victory

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Women's Volleyball

vs #8 Seed UTSA

Nov 21

10 AM

Tampa, Fla.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 21 Rice Owls volleyball team recorded their first-ever NCAA Tournament win in style, sweeping (25-18, 25-22, 25-19) Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon at Texas A&M's Reed Arena to advance to the Round of 32 on Friday.

Rice (27-3) moves on to face the winner of No. 25 Texas A&M/St. John's on Friday at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN3. The Owls, who had previously gone 0-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, recorded their 20th sweep of the season behind a match-high 16 kills from Nicole Lennon.

In addition to Lennon, the Owls got eight kills from senior Tori Woogk and seven kills from sophomore Anota Adekunle. Setters Adria Martinez (18 assists) and Carly Graham (17 assists) combined for 35 assists in the Owls' 44 kills while senior libero Lee Ann Cunningham led all players with 13 digs.

The Owls limited Oklahoma (19-9) to just 30 kills on 101 attacks (.119) and outgained the Sooners in aces (7-3), digs (49-37), and blocks (8.0-6.0).

Genny Volpe Postgame Reaction
"I'm really proud of the team on how they came out and executed. We competed at a very high level from the very beginning. Oklahoma is a great team and had a phenomenal season. We knew it was going to be a tough match. I'm extremely proud we were able to get it done in three sets."

Grace Morgan Postgame Reaction
"A big thanks to our awesome coaching staff for having us prepared. We watched film extensively on them so we had a pretty good idea on their tendencies. A lot of credit goes to our pins for setting up the block today."

Nicole Lennon Postgame Reaction
"We respected Oklahoma a lot coming in. I'm just glad we executed at such a high level and stayed aggressive. I think that was the key for us."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
The Owls gained momentum early by jumping out to an 8-1 lead behind three kills from Lennon. Rice led from start-to-finish and held the Sooners to just a .026 hitting clip, taking advantage of eight errors from OU. Lennon finished with six kills in the frame while Cunningham led the defensive charge with eight digs.
Set 2
In a set that saw nine ties, it was Rice who gained the upper hand midway through outscoring the Sooners 9-6 after a 16-16 tie. Lennon paced the Rice offense with five kills while Woogk contributed four kills as well and Rice hit .300 as a team.
Set 3
Lennon and the Owls completed the sweep with a 25-19 victory as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year recorded five more kills and notched one of Rice's four aces in the frame.

-RiceOwls.com-

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