Volleyball squad to take on SWC
Coach Henry Chen said that the Owls face a monumental task in their pursuit for postseason play.
"The only way that we can go to a postseason tournament is if we go all the way," he said. "We pretty much have to go in and do mission impossible."
The Owls hope to break out of their recent offensive slump when they play the Cougars.
"I think we're going to have to play with confidence," said senior Jessica Williams. "I feel that it's our last chance to make it happen. If there's ever a time for the team to come together, it's now."
Rice will contend with a hot Houston club, led by Lily Denoon, a national record-setter for kills.
The Cougars ousted the Owls in straight games at both regular season meetings, with a15-8, 15-2, 15-2 win on Oct. 9 and a15-5, 15-1, 15-8 victory on Nov. 3.
"We just need to keep our errors low, and we've been working on our blocking," said outside hitter Rebecca Case.
The Owls were only able to win one of their past three games, finishing the regular season with a 13-17 mark.
"We wanted to get to .500, but it didn't pan out that way," Williams said. "Hopefully, we can use it to our advantage."
"The whole team is disappointed, but we can't let that determine how we play," Case said.
The Owls posted their last win against the University of New Orleans Friday night.
After dropping the first game 16-14, Rice came back to win the last three games, 15-13, 15-8, 15-11.
Outside hitter Sammy Waldron had one of her best games ever for Rice, recording 28 kills, 15 digs and seven blocks.
Waldron was backed up by Case, who finished with 10 kills, and quick hitter Lynda Yoon, who had eight kills, three aces, 12 digs and 10 blocks.
Kristin O'Hearn led the Privateers with 25 kills and 19 digs.
"We played a great match against UNO," Chen said. "It was a courageous match."
The Owls faced the Tulane University Green Wave the next evening. Rice lost in four games,15- 8, 15-10, 11-15, 15-10.
Waldron had another overpowering game with 26 kills and 11 digs, while middle hitter Terri Loewenthal added 12 kills.
Alicia Robertson dominated the game for the Green Wave with 20 kills and 10 blocks.
The squad traveled to Beaumont to face the Lamar Cardinals in its season finale Tuesday.
Lamar prevailed, 15-2, 15-7, 13-15, 15-3 behind a strong offensive effort.
Miriam Erickson led a quartet of Cardinals with kills in double figures, posting16. Gena Farris paced the defense with 23 digs.
Waldron again provided Rice's offensive firepower with 18 kills and 16 digs, but she had no help from her teammates.
"We just happened to come out flat against Tulane and Lamar," Chen said. "They really came out and ambushed us."
"It's the errors," Case said. "We kept missing our serves. Our passing fell apart [against Lamar]."
The Owls enter the conference tournament as the sixth seed.
"We want to run a balanced attack, and we're capable of doing that," Chen said. "We have great individual performances, but we need to string those together for a team effort."
Williams felt a stronger sense of urgency.
"We just have to trust ourselves and our teammates," she said. "Every ball we touch could be our last."
This item appeared in the Sports section of the November 19, 1993 issue.
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