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September 9, 2005 > Sports > Volleyball streak ends at 19

Volleyball streak ends at 19

Owls win Rice Invitational, but home winning streak snapped with five-game loss to Texas Tech Tuesday

By Shane Kotlarsky | For the Thresher

The volleyball team’s 19-game winning streak at Autry Court ended Tuesday, as Texas Tech University gave the Owls their first loss of the season. Rice’s five-game loss was its first at home since losing to national power Hawaii on Oct. 23, 2003.

“This was a disappointing loss. We gave a lot of points away on service errors and blocking errors,” head coach Genny Volpe said. “It’s disturbing — these were all things that we can control.”

Rice (4-1) will look to rebound against Oklahoma tonight at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Owls will also play the University of Texas-San Antonio and Louisiana State University — which is undefeated this season and has the best record in the Southeastern Conference — at the UTSA Dome Rally.

“Even when we go on the road, we still have high expectations,” Volpe said. “Our goal is to win the tournament, and we can definitely do that if we just fix a couple things.”

Rice won three matches and the Crowne Plaza Rice Invitational title last weekend but could not maintain its momentum against a beatable Texas Tech team.

“Execution is the name of the game, and we just didn’t do it,” Volpe said.

Rice’s offense, normally a strong point, faltered at key moments during the match. The Owls had 14 service errors, including one that gave Texas Tech the fourth-set win and the momentum going into the decisive fifth game.

In its three toughest matches this season, the volleyball team has been slow to start, especially after the break between the second and third games. Against Texas Tech, Rice found itself down 7-3 early.

“We need to not to get too confident after each match we win,” junior middle blocker Tessa Kuykendall said. “If we go out there and just play our game, we should be fine.”

The Owls have just three upperclassmen on their roster, and Volpe said consistency will come with practice.

“We just need to put our players in situations that are going to help them battle back,” she said.

Against the Red Raiders, senior setter Kristina Hoban had 57 assists and started momentum swings in the first and third games with kills.

Rice executed well last weekend, though, defeating Duke — picked to win the ACC title — at the Rice Invitational after a 3-0 sweep of McNeese State in the first match of the tournament.

Against a much taller Duke team, Rice did everything right. Kuykendall and senior outside hitter Olaya Pazo both hit well above .400, and the team minimized its errors and capitalized on Duke’s mistakes.

“[The Duke match] gave us confidence for the rest of the weekend,” sophomore libero Yvette Kirk said.

Although the Duke match was higher-profile, the Owls’ win over perennial NCAA tournament team Sacramento State University in five games was probably their most impressive win last weekend. Sacramento State battled the Owls for five games. Rice won the fifth game 15-13, as Pazo capped off the tournament with her then-career-high 24th kill. Pazo, the reigning Conference USA player of the week, earned tournament MVP honors for her play.

After splitting the first two games, Rice took the third set in commanding fashion, 30-18. Sacramento State stole the momentum with a fourth-game win, but the Owls held the Hornets to a negative attack percentage in the fifth game to clinch the tournament title. Sophomore outside hitter Kristina Denneman recorded 29 digs in the match, which ranks sixth all-time in Rice volleyball history, tied with Leigh Leman (Lovett ‘03).

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