Preview | No. 20 Volleyball Begins NCAA Tournament against Colorado

Match 30 | No. 20 Rice Owls vs. Colorado Buffaloes (20-10) | Thursday, Dec. 1, 4:30 p.m.
Location: Waco, Texas (Ferrell Center)
Video Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: NCAA
Series: Series tied, 1-1 Last Meeting: Colorado won, 3-0 (9/2/17)

SETTING THE SCENE
The No. 20 ranked and fifth-seeded Owls open the 2022 NCAA Tournament against Colorado on Thursday.

With a victory, Rice will face the winner of No. 17 Baylor and Stephen F. Austin on Friday at 7 p.m.

RICE NOTES

Rice returns to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season. It is Conference USA automatic qualifer for the third time and the first since 2018. This will be the Owls' eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Owls stayed at No. 20 in the latest AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll. They are also 15th in the NCAA's latest RPI rankings.
Rice is one of only three programs in the state of Texas to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons, joining Texas and Baylor. Additionally, Rice is one of just 18 programs across Division I to reach the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons. Only five are from non-Power 5 conferences (Rice, BYU, Creighton, San Diego, UCF).
Rice junior libero Nia McCardell is currently second in Conference USA in digs per set, averaging 4.72, which is 40th in the country. Fifth-year middle blocker Anota Adekunle leads C-USA with a 42.6% hitting percentage, good for ninth in the nation.
As a team the Owls currently rank 20th in the NCAA in digs per set (16.61) and are 36th in opponents hitting percentage (.173). The Owls have held 21 of 29 opponents below a hitting percentage of .200 or worse this season.
Dating back to 2014 the Owls are 105-21 (.833) in Conference USA play, which includes a 60-4 (.938) record the last three seasons. Rice is 39-1 in C-USA regular season contests dating back to the 2019 season.
Rice has appeared in the NCAA Tournament in five consecutive seasons, with two of those coming via Conference USA's automatic, including this season. The Owls are looking to win matches in consecutive NCAA Tournament's for the first time in history. Last season the Owls swept San Diego in the opening round of the tournament to advance to the Round of 32 for the second time in three seasons.
Rice has won at least 25 games for the sixth time overall and the third under head coach Genny Volpe. One more win would tie the most wins under Volpe.

-RiceOwls.com-

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