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Wednesday, October 04, 2023 — Houston, TX

Sports

SPORTS 10/26/21 11:33pm

Make no mistake, joining the AAC is a great move

By Daniel Schrager

The American Athletic Conference, as baseball hall of famer Yogi Berra famously said about the future, ain’t what it used to be. With the University of Houston, University of Cincinnati and University of Central Florida all leaving for the Big 12, the AAC will lose arguably its three most valuable members before Rice plays a game in their new conference. Those three were all key to the AAC’s push to become the sixth major conference: UCF made a legitimate College Football Playoff push with back to back undefeated regular seasons in 2017 and 2018, Houston made the men’s Final Four last year and Cincinnati is currently ranked No. 2 in the country in football. To make matters worse, the University of Connecticut, easily the best women’s basketball program in the country, left the AAC in 2020. The conference that Rice will join in a few years will be a far cry from the AAC of recent years.

SPORTS 10/26/21 11:31pm

Football upsets defending CUSA champs in hectic finish

By Pavithr Goli

Rice football picked up a road win this past Saturday afternoon as they upset the University of Alabama, Birmingham 30-24. Predicted to lose heavily, the Owls entered their matchup against the defending conference champion Blazers as 23.5-point underdogs. The win on Saturday puts the Owls with a record of 3-4 on the season, including a 2-1 record in C-USA play. Head coach Mike Bloomgren said that he was proud of the team’s win over a Blazers team that has run C-USA in recent years. 

SPORTS 10/21/21 11:15am

Rice set to join American Athletic Conference

By Daniel Schrager

For just the third time in school history, Rice will be moving athletic conferences. Along with five other Conference USA schools, Rice accepted an invitation to join the American Athletic Conference, the AAC announced Thursday morning. Rice will remain in C-USA for now, as the move won’t take effect until a later time which is yet to be determined, although multiple Rice coaches indicated that 2023 could be a possible target date. According to Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard, in the AAC, Rice has found a conference that meets all of its criteria.

SPORTS 10/19/21 10:48pm

Nicole Lennon breaks kills record against LA Tech

By Antoine Wiley

Senior outside hitter Nicole Lennon made Rice history on Saturday, breaking the program’s all-time kills record as the Owls beat Louisiana Tech University in both matches of their two game series. With her 1970th kill, Lennon broke the record set almost two decades ago by Rice legend and former member of the Spain women’s national volleyball team Rebeca Paz. After the game, Lennon said that breaking the record let her see just how much of an impact she’s made on the program.

SPORTS 10/19/21 10:47pm

Roadrunners run all over the Owls in San Antonio

By Pavithr Goli

This past Saturday night, the Rice football team lost to the University of Texas, San Antonio by a final score of 45-0 in the Alamodome. After winning two straight games prior to their bye week, the Owls fell to 2-4 while the Roadrunners added to their undefeated season, sporting a 7-0 record. The most recent AP Top 25 Poll ranked UTSA as the 24th best team in college football after their win over the Owls on Saturday.

SPORTS 10/19/21 10:46pm

Rice needs to keep their players out of the transfer portal

By Ben Baker-Katz and Daniel Schrager

On Saturday, the University of Texas, San Antonio gashed the Rice defense to the tune of 45 points in three quarters. While the defense had already allowed 58 points to the University of Texas, Austin, and 44 points to the University of Houston, there was something particularly disconcerting about giving up 45 points to a conference opponent, although the offense throwing two interceptions returned for touchdowns certainly didn’t help. The game marked the culmination of a fall from grace for a defense that ranked No. 12 in the country last year, allowing 18.8 points per game. So far this season, the Owl’s defense is giving up 39.67 points per game, good for No. 126 in the country out of 130 teams. 

SPORTS 10/13/21 12:45am

Karlgaard embraces challenges of pandemic, NCAA changes

By Daniel Schrager

Athletic director Joe Karlgaard describes himself as someone who likes challenges. But even he has found the past year and a half to be difficult. While the pandemic was a challenge to all college sports programs, Karlgaard said that Rice was at a disadvantage because they took it upon themselves to maintain higher COVID-19 safety protocols than many of their competitors.

SPORTS 10/13/21 12:41am

Soccer needs overtime to get past struggling UAB

By Antoine Wiley

The Rice women’s soccer team improved their season’s record to 9-3-1 and 3-1 in Conference USA after beating the University of Alabama at Birmingham in a hardfought overtime battle on Friday. The victory at Holloway Field improved the Owls to 2-1-1 in overtime matches this year. After the game, head coach Brian Lee said that the team always has to be prepared to win close games, especially against conference competition.

SPORTS 10/5/21 10:42pm

Football opens conference play with win over Southern Miss

By Pavithr Goli

Rice football opened conference play with a 24-19 victory against the University of Southern Mississippi University on Saturday. Playing at home in front of over 16,000 fans, the Owls won their first conference opener since 2017 to bring their record to 2-3. The Owls opened the game with a scoring drive and kept that momentum for the rest of the four quarters, leading throughout the game. 

SPORTS 10/5/21 10:38pm

Nicole Lennon’s killer instinct

By Reed Myers

When she first arrived at Rice four years ago, senior outside hitter Nicole Lennon knew she wanted to find a way to immortalize her career. Now, as she heads into the stretch of her fifth and final season at Rice, Lennon has found a way to do just that. After more than four seasons playing a key role in bringing the Owls to the national stage, the two-time Conference USA player of the year is closing in on Rice’s all-time kills record. 

SPORTS 9/28/21 10:51pm

No. 24 soccer leaves Lady Techsters on read in last-gasp win

By Daniel Schrager

Rice soccer didn’t make it easy for themselves Friday night at Holloway Field, but they were able to pull out a win over Louisiana Tech University to bring their conference record to 2-0. With the game tied at 1-1 in the 81st minute, freshman midfielder Catarina Albuquerque connected with a header to break the tie. The Owls held on in the final nine minutes to secure the win. According to head coach Brian Lee, the team was confident they’d get the win, even with the score tied so late in the game.

SPORTS 9/28/21 10:50pm

Both cross country teams place in the top three at A&M Invitational

By Pavithr Goli

Both the Rice men’s and the women’s cross country teams impressed this past Saturday morning at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas. The women’s team placed second overall at the meet, placing 26 points behind the hosts. For the second straight meet, sophomore Grace Forbes won the individual title as she beat the next collegiate runner by over 30 seconds in the 5k race. 

SPORTS 9/28/21 10:49pm

Volleyball swept by No. 1 Texas

By Cadan Hanson

After the 58-0 blowout on the football field last week, there was hope that Wednesday’s volleyball game between Rice and the University of Texas, Austin would turn out differently. Following the two upsets in 2019 and 2020, when the Owls beat the No. 3 and No. 2 UT teams respectively, the team looked to pull off a three-peat of upsets when they hosted the No. 1 ranked Longhorns. However, the Owls could not handle the power of the undefeated Longhorns as they fell in three straight sets (25-14, 25-14, 25-14).

SPORTS 9/28/21 10:47pm

Roelfsema’s soccer journey spans three cities, 5,000 miles

By Reed Myers

Just a few years ago, nobody could have guessed that Mijke Roelfsema’s soccer journey would have taken her to Rice, least of all herself. Now, the senior defender is front and center as the Rice soccer team attempts to fight its way back to the NCAA tournament, after their first-ever sweet sixteen appearance last season. Roelfsema’s long and winding soccer journey, which now has her as the focal point for the Owls defense, began over 5,000 miles away when she was just  five years old living in Holland. 

SPORTS 9/21/21 10:55pm

Conference realignment is on its way, Rice can’t afford to miss out

By Daniel Schrager

To any Rice alumni pining for some nostalgia about the Rice sports of yesteryear, the last few weeks must have been quite the treat. The soccer team, which just wrapped up its non conference schedule, played three consecutive games against the University of Texas, Austin, the University of Houston and Southern Methodist University. If you notice the common thread between these teams, it’s that they were all members of the former Southwest Conference. Soccer wasn’t alone in this trend. Football’s first three games, against the University of Arkansas, Houston and Texas, were all against former SWC foes. Volleyball, which has already played SMU and former SWC member Baylor University, is set to play Texas this week.

SPORTS 9/21/21 10:53pm

Volleyball gets swept by No. 12 Baylor, sweeps McNeese state

By Pavithr Goli

The Rice volleyball team traveled to Waco, TX this past weekend to compete in the Baylor Classic, where the Owls faced No. 12 Baylor University on Thursday evening and McNeese State University on Friday evening. Losing to the nationally-ranked Bears in straight sets on day one of the Classic, the Owls bounced back with a sweep over McNeese State on day two. After the weekend’s matches, the Owls are now 5-4 on the season with three of their losses coming to top-15 ranked teams. 

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