Volleyball wipes out at Wahine Volleyball Classic
The beach was not kind to the Owls in Honolulu as Rice was eager to say aloha to Hawaii and come back home to Texas after losses over the weekend to the University of Hawaii, University of Cincinnati, and the University of the Pacific.
Last Thursday, the Owls started off the Verizon Wahine Volleyball Classic by playing the host, Hawaii. It was too easy for the Rainbow Warriors as the Owls could never get into the match. In the first set, Hawai'i took a steady 13-10 lead against Rice before ending the set on a 12-0 run to win comfortably 25-10. The Owls made it closer in the next two sets, but it was to no avail as Hawai'i showed their dominance by winning 25-18 and 25-19 to get a 3-0 sweep. The Owls' attack, led by freshman outside hitter Lizzy Bache, freshman middle blocker Jillian Humphrey and senior outside hitter Jordan Meredith, was frustrated as no individual got over five kills. Sophomore setter Megan Murphy had 21 assists along with eight digs, the same amount as senior defensive specialist Megan White had.
The next night, the Owls hoped to bounce back against a feisty Cincinnati team. Rice got off to an excellent start in the first set as they went back and forth with the Bearcats, winning the first set 35-33. The Owls built on their lead with a dominant second set, winning 25-18. After the second set, Cincinnati fought back and Rice could not recover as Cincinnati won the last three sets 25-18, 25-17 and 15-11 to win the match 3-2. Junior outside hitter Laurie McNamara led the team with 13 kills along with 11 by junior middle blocker Nancy Cole. Murphy led the team with 47 assists and added 14 digs as well, but White had the most digs, as she added 19.
Rice played Pacific on Saturday and they did not want to go back home empty handed from their adventure to the Hawaiian Islands. The Owls were staring at a winless tournament dead in the eye as they dropped the first two sets to Pacific, 25-22 and 25-21. The Owls clawed their way back into the match with two gut-wrenching wins in the third and fourth set by the scores of 27-25 and 27- 25. However, their comeback fell short as the Tigers took the fifth set, 15-11 and the match, 3-2. Bache led the team with a career-high in kills with 21. Murphy added a match-high 58 assists while White had a match-high 27 digs.
After a tough weekend in Hawaii, the Owls are 3-5 overall and are currently riding a three-match losing streak. Head Coach Genny Volpe knew that this was going to be one of their toughest tournaments, but felt like the team did not finish when they needed to.
"We are not happy with being 0-3 on the weekend, but we knew that this was going to be one of the toughest tournaments of the year," Volpe said. "We were going to play and we just got to find a way to finish, because we showed that we can compete with at least Cincinnati and Pacific, and we just need to finish them next time."
Rice returns back to Texas this weekend, but is still on the road as they are going to the Chilly Fillmore's Stephen F. Austin Invitational in Nacogdoches, TX where they will play North Dakota State University (6- 5), Sam Houston State University (6-5) and Stephen F. Austin University (6-5). However, the big match on next week's slate is at Tudor Fieldhouse against the University of Houston (7-3), which will kick off the conference season for the Owls.
Volpe said that the non-conference slate of games had prepared the team for the conference season as they have faced some of the premier teams in the nation like Stanford University and Hawaii.
"I think that the conference teams we face are going to be good, but the teams we have faced in the preseason have been strong teams," Volpe said. "We are not going to be surprised by anything in Conference USA because we have seen the best serving, best blocking and the best defense."
White agreed saying that even though they had faced strong teams and have a losing record, their non-conference schedule has them ready for conference play.
"Despite the losses and heartbreaks, I think this will be good for us because I think that we will be more mentally tough and more prepared once the conference season starts," White said.
With the game against Houston on Tuesday, the Owls have a perfect chance to rebound from their Hawaii woes and start off the conference season on the right foot. White sees it as an opportunity to show people that Rice volleyball is back.
"I think the Houston game is huge because we need to make a statement telling people who we are," White said. "Yes, our record does not look good right now, but we are ready to play some conference ball and I think we need to make a statement right off the bat against Houston."
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