NOTES - Volleyball Begins Four-Match Homestand Against ECU, Temple

UP NEXT
Rice volleyball (13-7, 7-3 AAC) returns to Houston for a four-match homestand starting on Friday, Oct. 27, at 4:30 p.m. (CT) against East Carolina (18-4, 9-2 AAC). The Owls will then wrap up their October schedule against Temple (15-7, 5-5 AAC) on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. (CT).

OWLS VERSUS PIRATES
The Owls are 9-3 all-time against the Pirates, including an active eight-match winning streak. The pair were conference mates in Conference-USA from 2005-13 with Rice holding a 8-3 mark in conference matches between the two sides. Rice and ECU first met on Sept. 13, 2002, as part of the Lady Vol Classic in Knoxville, Tennessee, with the Owls winning the inaugural matchup, 3-0 (30-16, 30-16, 30-28).

OWLS VERSUS OWLS
Rice and Temple have battled only once previously, with the Temple Owls winning, 3-0 (15-6, 15-8, 15-7) on August, 30, 1997, as part of the Temple Invitational in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sunday's match will be the first meeting of the two sides in head coach Genny Volpe's career.

ACTIVE LEADERS
Friday's match versus East Carolina will feature the top-three active leaders among AAC for points per set. Rice's Danyle Courtley (3.93) and Emilia Weske (3.92) rank second and third, respectively, in points per set among active AAC players. ECU's Angeles Alderete ranks first with 4.14 points per set.

THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORY
As a team, the Owls currently lead the nation in digs per set with 19.12. They are also third in the country in attacks per set (38.44), fifth in hitting percentage allowed (.146) and 21st in blocks per set (2.62).

Senior libero Nia McCardell leads the American and is 18th in the country in digs per set (5.08). Senior outside hitter Danyle Courtley is third in the AAC in kills per set (3.60), and is fourth in both attacks per set (9.64) and points per set (3.93). Junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Knobbe ranks fourth in the AAC with 1.10 blocks per set and graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske ranks fifth in the conference in points per set (3.92).

HOT STREAK
Graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske broke her career record for kills in back-to-back matches, registering 25 kills at Charlotte before following up the performance with 27 kills against FAU. Weske has recorded double-digit kills in eight of her past nine matches, hitting a team-best .273 over that span.

SPREAD IT AROUND
Five different Owls have led the team in kills this season on at least one occasion. Senior outside hitter Danyle Courtley leads the team with 10 matches as Rice's leading killer. Graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske ranks second with six times posting the team lead in kills, with senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska close behind with four matches leading the team. Junior right side hitter Lola Foord and freshman outside hitter Cindy Tchouangwa have each led the Owls in kills one time this season.

HANDLING THE PEER PRESSURE
Dating back to 2016 the Owls are 112-24 (.824) in conference play, which includes a 57-5 (.919) record over the last five seasons. Rice has won 45 of their last 49 matches in conference play.

DIG DEEP
Rice is the only team in the AAC with two players ranking in the top-10 in digs per set during AAC play. Senior defensive specialist Nia McCardell leads the conference with 4.92 digs per set during AAC play while sophomore setter Darby Harris ranks 10th during league play with 3.69 digs per set.

Not only do the Owls lead the nation in digs per set (19.12), Rice also leads the AAC in opponent attempts converted to digs. The Owls have faced 2,919 total attempts this season and have recorded 1,396 digs off those attempts, a conversion percentage of 47.82 percent, the top mark in the conference.

ICYMI
Rice fell in two matches at SMU last week. In the first match of the weekend's doubleheader, the Owls succumbed in a 3-1 loss. Rice hit .212 on the match and totaled 56 kills with 53 assists. Defensively, Rice recorded eight total blocks and 72 digs. SMU hit .211 in the match with 55 kills and recorded 12 total blocks and 67 digs. Graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske again led the Owls in kills, finishing with 19 with a .313 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Danyle Courtley finished with 13 kills, narrowly missing a double-double with nine digs. Senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska led the team with 21 digs, recording a double-double with 11 kills. Sophomore setter Darby Harris also recorded a double-double with 11 digs and a team-high 39 assists. Graduate senior middle blocker Satasha Kostelecky led the team with four total blocks on the night, also scoring a team-high two service aces.

In game two, the Owls forced the match to five sets before falling short. Rice hit .175 with 70 kills and 65 assists. Defensively, Rice registered 12.0 total blocks and 96 digs while holding the Mustangs to 66 kills on a .200 hitting percentage. Courtley led the Owls with a career-high 24 kills while hitting .212. Courtley also recorded her second career double-double, and first this season, with 11 digs. Weske finished with 18 kills, eight digs and six total blocks, while Maruska also recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 20 digs. Maruska tied for the team lead in digs alongside senior libero Nia McCardell. Harris led the team with 55 assists, adding 15 digs for her 12th double-double of the season. Junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Knobbe ended with nine kills on a team-high .350 hitting percentage, adding four total blocks. Kostelecky posted a team-best seven blocks.

CAREER MARKS
Several Owls recorded career-high marks last week against SMU.In the Owls' first match against the Mustangs, sophomore setter Darby Harris set a new career-high with seven attacks, while graduate senior middle blocker Satasha Kostelecky registered a career-high two service aces. In the second match of the weekend, senior outside hitter Danyle Courtley recorded new career-high marks with 24 kills and 66 total attempts.

DOUBLE DOWN
Six Owls have recorded double-doubles in their career. Sophomore setter Darby Harris leads Rice this season with 12 double-doubles, comprising her career total. Harris has recorded a double-double in nine of her past 11 matches. Senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska holds the lead in career double-doubles among current Owls, registering 16 in her career, including six this season. Graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske has registered three double-doubles in her time at Rice in addition to four double-doubles while at USC. Senior setter Izzy Rawlings recorded her first two double-doubles in her career earlier this season (FGCU, Long Island) and senior defensive specialist Nia McCardell also recorded her first career double-double against Charlotte. Senior outside hitter Danyle Courtley notched the only double-double of her career in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year against No. 17 Baylor.

STAT SHEET STUFFERS
Rice set several of the highest marks by an AAC team this seasno in the Owls' 3-2 comeback win over Tulsa on Sept. 23. The Owls posted the conference's high-water mark for kills (75) and assists (73), while also recording the conference's highest team dig total during AAC play (128).

HOME SWEET HOME
Since 2018, the Owls have protected their home court, holding a 61-9 (.871) mark. In fact, since 2014, they are 105-21 (.833). Rice has been even better on their home court against conference opponents, having won 22 of its last 23 home conference matches dating back to the 2020-21 spring season. Since the 2015 season, Rice is 52-3 (.945) in conference home matches.

MEASURING UP
The Owls are 15-14 against Power 5 schools dating back to 2019 and have recorded five Top-25 victories during that stretch.

When the Owls defeated then-No. 22 USC on Aug. 26, it was their 10th win against a ranked opponent, with nine of them coming with Head Coach Genny Volpe at the helm. This season, Rice has also faced No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Texas and No. 16 Baylor.

THEIR REPUTATION PRECEDES THEM
Graduate student Emilia Weske (right side) and seniors Danyle Courtley (outside hitter), Nia McCardell (libero) and Sahara Maruska (outside hitter) were all named to the American Preseason Team. The four members were the most of any school in the AAC and the most Owls on a preseason all-conference team since also placing four on the 2016 Preseason All-Conference USA team.

The Owls were picked to finish second in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll behind SMU, receiving six first place votes.

OWLS IN THE RICE INVITATIONAL
The Owls swept the Rice Invitational, defeating both Houston Christian and Atlantic Sun preseason favorite Florida Gulf Coast in straight sets. Rice has won 10 consecutive matches in the Invite dating back to 2021 and 23 of 24 dating back to 2017.

LEGEND AT THE HELM
Head Coach Genny Volpe is in her 20th season with the Owls and is the school's all-time leader in total wins (389) and winning percentage (.654).

DANCING FEVER
Rice has appeared in the NCAA Tournament in five consecutive seasons. Last season the Owls defeated Colorado in the opening round of the tournament to advance to the Round of 32 for the third time in the last four seasons.

The Owls are 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.

BEEN HERE BEFORE
Rice returned nine letterwinners and four starters from last season's NCAA Tournament team.

FOREIGN TOUR
In June Rice completed an 11-day tour through Brazil, Rice's first foreign tour since visiting Italy in 2019. The Owls played five matches against national and professional teams while visiting Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero, Saquarema and Arraial do Cabo.

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