Rice University
15-6,10-2AAC
UTSA
8-17,2-10AAC
Volleyball Sweeps Third-Straight Match, Downs UTSA in San Antonio
11/3/2024 3:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Rice took care of business on the road, earning a hard-fought sweep of the UTSA Roadrunners on Sunday afternoon at the UTSA Convocation Center.
"This was a hard earned win today," said head coach Genny Volpe. "UTSA got us making a few more errors than we would like today, but the confidence we showed in each set was very encouraging moving forward."
Kaitlyn Knobbe led the Owls in both kills and hitting percentage, posting 16 kills with a .481 hitting percentage, her second-highest hitting percentage on the season with at least five attempts. Other Owls who heard double digit kills were Katrina Jensen and Lola Foord, who both had 12 kills.
Savannah Skopal led the Owls with 40 assists, and also posted her fourth double-double of her freshman campaign, tallying 13 digs in three sets of work. Along with Skopal, liber Nia McCardell posted six assists, while Samarah Hill and Kaia Mateo both had one.
Hill, McCardell, and Skopal all had 13 digs, posting 39 of Rice's 57 digs on the day. Darby Harris has seven, Jensen had five, and Campbell Love had four to round out Owls with multiple digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE (RICE 25-23)
Rice came out and took an early 9-5 lead, but UTSA stormed back to tie the set up at 10-10. From there, neither side could build a substantial lead, with the largest lead either side taking being two points. UTSA took a late one-point lead at 23-22, but a kill from Rice forced the Roadrunners to take a timeout. From there, Rice used two final kills to take the first set at 25-23.
SET TWO (RICE 25-21)
UTSA came out as the aggressor in the second set, building a fast 4-1 lead and holding that three-point lead through the early part of the set. Rice tied it up at 10-10, and kept it close through the next few points until taking the lead at 13-12. Rice took a multiple point lead at 15-13, but UTSA hung around and tied the set back up at 17-17. Rice then took control and went on a 5-0 run to go up 22-17. UTSA tried to fight back and closed the gap at 23-21, but Rice took the final two points of the set to claim the second set.
SET THREE (RICE 25-22)
Much like the first two sets, the early-going of the third set was tight, with neither side being able to break away. UTSA took the largest lead of the early part of the set at 9-6. Rice tied it with a 3-0 run at 9-9, and then UTSA responded in kind to build the lead back up to 12-9. At 13-10, Rice used a 5-0 run to take a two-point lead at 15-13, and held onto the lead until the Roadrunners came back to tie it up at 19-19. Once the set was tied again at 21-21, Rice outscored UTSA 4-1 to finish off the match, sweeping UTSA for the ninth-consecutive match.
UP NEXT
Rice has two home matches next week, meeting Wichita State on Friday night before taking on UAB on Sunday afternoon.
