Volleyball wins 3rd SWC match

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by Jun Yang

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For a team which has often not come up with the clutch play needed to break the losing streak, Rice has matured into a consistent volleyball team.

One knows the Owls are going the right direction when they win a game with a negative percentage.

Despite hitting only -0.027 in the first game and having a .085 hitting percentage for the match, the Owls survived a grueling five-game match Wednesday against Texas Tech University 15-11, 7-15, 17-15, 6-15, 15-9 in Lubbock.

The key to the win over the Red Raiders was beating Tech at its own game, defense.

Rice outdug Texas Tech 108-88 while recording 17 team blocks, which equalled the Red Raiders' total.

Junior Jennifer Sloan (21 digs), senior Sammy Waldron (17), sophomore Tiffany Carrethers (17), junior Darcy Cruikshank (17), junior Rebecca Case (12), sophomore Carolyn Sarnecki (11) and sophomore swing hitter Monica Bickert (10) each recorded double-digit digs.

Carrethers anchored the front line with nine blocks. Sarnecki and Sloan both tallied six blocks while Case had four.

On the offensive side, Carrethers and Waldron collected 19 and 18 kills respectively. The Red Raiders focused on stopping Waldron (15 errors), but Rice was able to find support elsewhere for the second-straight road match. Sarnecki contributed 51 sets.

Last Saturday, the team showed no signs of letting up following its win at Baylor University.

The Owls showed that they could also dominate a game as they put away University of Houston, last year's conference champion, in three games 15-11, 16-14, 15-12.

Waldron and Case smashed 29 and 19 kills, respectively, to lead the offensive attack.

Carrethers anchored the defense with four blocks and 16 digs while Waldron also tacked on 15 digs. Sarnecki quarterbacked the team with 64 sets.

Head Coach Henry Chen was pleased with the team's consistency.

"They did a heck of a job," Chen said. "We started off strong and stayed strong. We simply outlasted them. In the second and third games, they got ahead, but we came back. It was a great team effort."

It was not only a night of team effort, but a night where individuals shined also.

Waldron's 29 kills broke the SWC career-kill record.

Chen said, "Sammy is a great hitter, an explosive hitter. She is top two or three in the conference in almost every statistical category and 16th in the country in kills."

Rice now has three straight SWC Player of the Week Award winners: Carrethers, Waldron and Case.

The threesome validated Chen's opinion of his team.

"We have a well-rounded offense," he said. "Every night, we have two or three hitters pounding the ball. They can't stop us by trying to nullify one person."

Last year only one Owl, Waldron, was selected as Player of the Week.

By moving to 3-2 in conference games, this year's team has matched the most SWC wins Rice teams have had since 1988, when they were 4-6.

Rice's improvement is recognized in many ways.

Its ranking in the district jumped from seventh to fourth. Just this week, the Owls even garnered votes nationally.

Crowd support also continued on Saturday as attendance surpassed 1,000 for the second straight home game.

Coach Chen expressed his appreciation when he said, "We love the big crowd. It's great. We respond well to attention."

Tomorrow night, Drake University comes to Autry Court to battle the Owls.

"Drake is a solid team. second in Missouri Valley Conference," Chen said.

"They are a scrappy team also; they dig a lot of balls. It'll be a good game. It'll be the last time to see us before we go off on the road for two weeks."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the October 13, 1995 issue.

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