NOTES: Volleyball Prepares for Pair of Home Matches Against Tulane

UP NEXT
Rice volleyball (15-7, 9-3 AAC) sets to host Tulane (6-18, 2-10 AAC) for two matches next weekend on Friday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. (CT), and Saturday, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m. (CT). Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.

THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORY
As a team, the Owls currently lead the nation in digs per set with 19.22. They are also fifth in the nation in both opponent hitting percentage (.144) and attacks per set (38.33). Senior libero Nia McCardell leads the American and is 17th in the country in digs per set (5.14). Senior outside hitter Danyle Courtley is third in the AAC in kills per set (3.67), fourth in points per set (3.96) and fifth in attacks per set (9.60). During conference play, graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske ranks third in the conference in both kills per set (3.98) and points per set (4.57).

CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
Senior libero Nia McCardell was named to the AAC Honor Roll last week. It was McCardell's second time this season being named to the honor roll in addition to thrice being named the AAC Defensive Player of the Week. McCardell recorded a total of 45 digs across Rice's two wins against East Carolina (3-2) and Temple (3-0). The native of Missouri City, Texas, also posted a .969 receiving percentage for the week, recording only one service receiving error on 32 attempts. In the Owls' win over the Pirates, McCardell finished with 27 total digs, also adding four assists, two service aces and one kill, only the third kill of her career. McCardell finished the week by recording 18 digs, nine assists and one service ace with a perfect 1.000 receiving percentage on 15 attempts in Rice's three-set win over Temple.

HOT STREAK
Senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska has recorded a double-double in four consecutive matches and six of her last eight. The native of Houston, Texas, set a new season-high mark for hitting percentage in Rice's 3-0 win over Temple, hitting .478 with 11 kills and no errors on 23 attempts.

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 11 matches as Rice's leading killer. Graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske ranks second with five times leading the team 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.

CAREER MARKS
Several Owls recorded career-high marks last week against ECU and Temple. Against the Pirates, sophomore defensive specialist Gaby Mansfield set new career-highs with three aces and three points scored. Senior libero Nia McCardell also set a new career-high with one kill, only the third of her career, and three points scored. Senior setter Izzy Rawlings, junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Knobbe and sophomore setter Taylor Johnson all set new career-highs with one kill, one assist and one ace, respectively. Against Temple, graduate senior middle blocker Satasha Kostelecky set a new career-high with two assists and junior right side hitter Lola Foord set a new career-best with one assist.

ICYMI
Rice returned to the winning circle with a pair of victories last week over East Carolina (3-2) and Temple (3-0). Against the Pirates, the Owls rallied from a 2-1 deficit and a 14-12 deficit in the final set to earn the victory. Rice hit .218 with 64 kills and 54 assists to snap their three-game skid. Rice recorded 94 digs and eight total blocks on the defensive end. The Owls also set a new season-high with nine service aces and held the visiting Pirates to a .187 hitting percentage on 56 kills and 48 assists. Senior outside hitter Danyle Courtley led the Owls with 20 kills on a team-best .391 hitting percentage. Graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske finished with a double-double of 15 kills and 12 digs, adding two solo blocks on the night.Senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska also recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 16 digs plus two aces. Sophomore setter Darby Harris recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 40 assists and 12 digs. Junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Knobbe posted a team-high four total blocks, while sophomore defensive specialist Gaby Mansfield led the team with three service aces alongside 15 digs. Senior libero Nia McCardell posted two aces and a team-high 27 digs in the win.

The Owls followed the performance by posting a new season-high hitting percentage of .351 in a sweep of Temple, topping their previous high of .347 versus Houston Christian. Rice posted 48 kills with 48 assists. Defensively, the team recorded seven total blocks and 67 digs while holding Temple to a .027 hitting percentage with 22 kills. Courtley again led the Owls with 14 kills on a .393 hitting percentage. Maruska followed close behind with 11 kills on a season-best .478 hitting percentage, recording a double-double with 13 digs. Harris posted her sixth-consecutive double-double with 35 assists and 17 digs. McCardell led the Owls with 18 digs, narrowly missing her second career double-double with nine assists. Graduate senior middle blocker Satasha Kostelecky posted a team-high four blocks, including two solo blocks, also hitting .500 with six kills.

HANDLING THE PEER PRESSURE
Dating back to 2014 the Owls are 114-24 (.826) in conference play, which includes a 59-5 (.922) record over the last five seasons. Rice has won 48 of their last 52 matches in conference play.

BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Rice and Tulane have met twice previously in conference tournaments. The two sides competed in the first and second rounds for the Conference USA Championships in 2005 and 2007, respectively. Tulane claimed victory in both contests: 3-2 in 2005 and 3-0 in 2007.

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.

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.

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.

DOUBLE DOWN
Six Owls have recorded double-doubles in their career. Sophomore setter Darby Harris leads Rice this season with 14 double-doubles, comprising her career total. Harris has recorded a double-double in 11 of her past 13 matches, including each of the previous six. Senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska holds the lead in career doubledoubles among current Owls, registering 19 in her career, including nine this season. Graduate senior right side hitter Emilia Weske has registered five 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.

HOME SWEET HOME
Since 2018, the Owls have protected their home court, holding a 63-9 (.875) mark. In fact, since 2014, they are 107-21 (.836). Rice has been even better on their home court against conference opponents, having won 24 of its last 25 home conference matches dating back to the 2020-21 spring season. Since the 2015 season, Rice is 54-3 (.947) in conference home matches.

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.

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.

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