Preview: Owls Set for Rematch Against Texas State on Tuesday

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Women's Volleyball

vs North Texas

Nov 7

6 PM

Houston, Texas

Women's Volleyball

vs Florida Atlantic

Nov 9

1 PM

Houston, Texas

Women's Volleyball

at Wichita State

Nov 14

6 PM

Wichita, Kan.

Women's Volleyball

at North Texas

Nov 16

1 PM

Denton, Texas

Women's Volleyball

vs American Volleyball Championship

Nov 21

TBD

Match 3 | at Texas State | Tuesday, Sept. 3, 6 p.m.
Location: San Marcos, Texas (Strahan Arena)
Video Stream: ESPN+ (Brant Freeman and Mick Haley)
Live Stats: S tatbroadcast
Series: Texas St. leads, 18-17 (Last Meeting: L 3-1, 11/29/18)

HOUSTON - The Rice Owls volleyball team will be out for a bit of revenge on Tuesday when they travel to San Marcos, Texas to face the Texas State Bobcats at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. The match presents a rematch of last season's NCAA First Round battle which the Bobcats won 3-1 in Austin. Texas St. also defeated the Owls in five sets at Tudor Fieldhouse last season on Sept. 4, Rice's only home loss of the year.

Rice (2-0) is coming off a pair of impressive sweeps over Ole Miss and UCF (RV) at last weekend's Rebel Invitational while Texas St. dropped two of three matches in their season-opening home tournament, defeating Liberty while losing to No. 14 USC and Northern Iowa.

NOTES

The defending C-USA champion Rice Owls opened the 2019 season in style last weekend at the Rebel Invitational, sweeping both host Ole Miss and UCF (RV). Rice's Nicole Lennon, Anota Adekunle, and Lee Ann Cunningham were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Lennon has been named the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week after helping guide the Owls to a pair of wins at the Ole Miss Rebel Invitational last weekend, the league office announced on Monday. Lennon, the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year, played a major role in a pair of Owls' sweeps and was named to the Rebel Invitational All-Tournament Team. The Katy, Texas native totaled 35 kills over six sets (5.83 per set) all while hitting .284. In the opener against Ole Miss, Lennon led all players with 15 kills and then followed up that performance with 20 kills on 48 attacks (.312) in just three sets (6.66 kills per set) in a sweep of UCF.
Coming off a season in which they swept the Conference USA regular season and tournament titles, the Owls are picked to defend their reign as champions according to the 2019 C-USA Preseason Poll. The Owls, who went 24-7 last season, received 11 of the 13 first-place votes from the C-USA coaches. In addition, the Owls are receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll.
Rice placed three players on the 12-person Preseason All-Conference Team, Lennon, Grace Morgan and Anota Adekunle each earned a spot.
In addition, Lennon was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year after garnering the postseason honor last season. Lennon became the first player in program history to be named Player of the Year following a season in which she led the Owls with 482 kills (35th in NCAA). In addition to 19 double-doubles, Lennon ranked third in C-USA in total points (542.0) and earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America honors. She enters the season with 907 career kills and ranks third in program history with 3.76 kills per set.
Morgan enters her senior season ranked first in Rice history with a career hitting percentage of .351 and is 10th in career block assists (290). The Crowley, La. native ranked second in C-USA last season in both hitting percentage (.369) and blocks per set (1.09).
Adekunle had a banner freshman season for the Owls, highlighted by being named the C-USA Tournament MVP. In addition, she earned a spot on the C-USA All-Conference Second Team and the All-Freshman Team. She ranked third in C-USA in blocks per set (1.08) and sixth in hitting percentage (.344).
Cunningham ranks third in Rice history with 1,694 career digs and second in career digs per set (4.60).
Rice returns seven starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team and will be incorporating five newcomers.
Reigning C-USA Coach of the Year Genny Volpe is in her 16th season with the Owls and is the school's all-time leader in totals wins (288) and winning percentage (.618). She notched her eighth, 20-plus win season for the Owls in 2018.
In 2018 the Owls advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 and achieved their best C-USA record (12-2). Rice twice appeared in the AVCA Coaches Poll and placed five players on the 2018 All-C-USA teams, including three first-team members and the C-USA Player of the Year in Lennon. The Owls ranked top 10 in the nation in kills per set (7th-14.64), digs per set (8th-18.16), and assists per set (8th-13.74).

-RiceOwls.com-

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