Streaking volleyball team heads to Kan. having won nine games in a row

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by Jun Yang

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This year the Owls recorded their ninth win less than one month into the season on Wednesday.

Two hours and three minutes of battle with Sam Houston State University ended with Rice on top in four-set fashion 15-11, 15-8, 13-15, and 15-13.

After the second set, the match appeared to have been settled but the Lady Kats came back in the third set outhitting Rice .222 to .196 as they overcome an early Rice lead to win the game..

The match although not quite as pretty as Coach Chen would have liked, improved the Owls to 9-3 mark for the season while dropping Sam Houston to 8-7.

"Sam Houston is a very good team," he said. "They barely missed the playoffs last year and were excellent the year before. They outdug us and adjusted very well."

Chen says the team is still learning and gaining experience before the conference matches.

"The games we played are preparing us for the coming-up matches," he said.

"They[SHSU] make us better. We still have areas to improve on, such as serving more aggressively and staying focused throughout the game."

Overall, Rice statistically dominated Sam Houston State.

The Owls pounded the ball for 75 kills and .257 hitting percentage while limiting the Lady Kats to 67 and .164.

The key players of the game for Rice were senior swing hitter Sammy Waldron, who collected 31 kills with only four errors and a .527 hitting percentage while collecting 19 digs and sophomore setter Carolyn Sarnecki who had 65 assists.

Junior swing hitter Rebecca Case added some punch with 16 kills and had 16 digs.

Perhaps the most striking statistic of the entire match was Rice's 19 team blocks compared to the Lady Kat's three.

Over the last weekend, Rice swept four teams en route to the Southwest Texas State Bobcat Classic.

The first victim was the University of Mississippi, which the Owls put away in four sets 11-15, 15-13, 15-7, 15-4.

Waldron's 31 kills and Sarnecki's 68 sets established this season's single-match highs. Sophomore quick hitter Tiffany Carrethers contributed with 18 digs and 6 total blocks.

On the same day, Rice swept Louisiana Tech University three sets to none 15-11, 15-7, 15-7.

Carrethers paced the Rice attack, dominating the net with 14 kills and seven blocks.

Sweeney contributed 12 digs while Sarnecki's 44 assists rounded out the attack.

The next day the University of Texas-Arlington succumbed to the Owls in straight-set fashion 15-3, 15-13, 15-5.

Waldron smashed 11 kills on the offensive end while collecting 10 digs on defense.

Sarnecki and Sweeney also helped out with 29 assists and four total blocks respectively.

The final opponent of the weekend was host Southwest Texas State University.

Rice defeated the Bobcats to capture the tournament title, 9-15, 15-5, 15-4, 15-5.

The comeback in part was generated by Waldron's 21 kills and 15 digs, junior swing hitter Yuan Yuan Zhang's 15 digs, Sarnecki's 48 sets and Carrethers' five total blocks.

By the end of the weekend, Waldron had placed her name in the history books.

She shattered the Rice career kill total held by Nicci Yarber, who had 1,325 kills, with 1,341 kills after the weekend games.

Waldron's 31 kills against Mississippi and Sam Houston also equalled the fourth-highest kill total in a single match in Rice history.

Her 67 attempts in the Mississippi game established the second-highest attempt total in school history.

At 9-3, the Owls carry a nine-game-winning streak into the weekend where they will travel to Manhattan, Kan., for the Kansas State Invitational.

Rice will face Creighton University and Northeastern Illinois University today.

Tomorrow, the Owls take on Wichita State University and the tournament host Kansas State University.

Coach Chen expects a tough tournament.

"Every team we'll face is very dangerous," he said. "They are all solid Division I teams, but I still would say that we're the team to beat."

Rice's turnaround season will be measured against the University of Texas on Sept. 30 at home.

Its first Southwest Conference game will be against Texas A&M University at College Station next Wednesday.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 22, 1995 issue.

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