Volleyball team wins first SWC match in five years at Baylor
The win was Rice's first in Southwest Conference play since 1990, a span which had covered 42 regular-season games.
In just under two hours, the Owls pounded the Lady Bears 15-7, 15-7, 14-16, 15-6 for their 13th win overall.
Leading the offensive attack for the Owls were Rebecca Case and Tiffany Carrethers.
Case had one of her finest games at Rice with 22 kills, a .545 hitting percentage, 13 digs and three blocks. Carrethers turned in 21 kills, a .439 attack percentage, nine digs and seven blocks.
Carolyn Sarnecki quarterbacked the Rice attack with 63 assists.
On a night where the Baylor defense keyed on swing hitter Sammy Waldron, who committed 10 errors, the rest of the team came together to earn its first win since beating Baylor at the end of the 1990 season.
As a team, Rice had a tremendous .351 attack percentage, 13 team blocks and an offensive consistency not seen in a match in a long time.
For Baylor, Nicole DeNault had 19 kills while Sarah Sivertson had 48 assists. The Lady Bears suffered from 12 serving errors and poor offensive output in the first, second and fourth games.
In the only game that Baylor won, the Bears pounded out 27 kills, almost half their total for the match.
Last Saturday at Autry Court the air was filled with excitement as each point and side out was echoed with thunderous chants.
Despite the enthusiasm, Rice fell to the University of Texas 7-15, 15-7, 6-15, 17-19. One thousand two hundred and forty-eight fans watched a tight match in which Waldron gave a valiant effort and almost engineered a comeback.
It all came down to the fourth set: There were five lead changes and seven ties as Rice took UT to the brink of elimination twice, only to come away with 0-2 SWC record. The loss definitely left a bitter taste in the team's mouth, although Coach Chen appreciated the effort.
"I am disappointed but pleased with the process," he said. "It was a great match. We were playing hard so it was tough not getting the win."
The fan support was a welcome sight to Coach Chen as he said, "The team appreciate [the support]. We had a great crowd, and I hope the support will continue."
Texas' win propelled it to 7-4 for the season while dropping Rice to 12-6 overall. Led by Waldron (32 kills), Case (17) and Carrethers (14), Rice managed to outkill UT 73-70.
The hitting efficiency was another story. Mistakes plagued the Owls to a tune of 44 errors, causing Rice's dismal hitting percen-tage of .157 as opposed to Texas' .272.
The Lady Longhorns dominated the net with 20 team blocks while Rice produced only 8.
"UT is a seasoned team. They beat the number one team in the country," Chen said. "We kept playing hard and kept fighting. We really deserved to win."
The next match will be against University of Houston, last year's SWC champion, at Autry Court tomorrow.
This item appeared in the Sports section of the October 6, 1995 issue.
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