Men's volleyball comes up big in Toledo

---

by Chuck Whitten

---

The men's volleyball team never really knew just how good they were.

Suffering through a lackluster regular season and plagued by a constantly changing roster and starting lineup, the squad headed for the National Intercollegiate Recreational Sports Association National Volleyball Championships last weekend in Toledo, Ohio.

The team had not played together all year and, to dramatize the situation even more, they lost one of their key players, Gary Patterson, due to an ankle injury the week before the tournament.

The team had no way to know what to expect as they prepared to take on some of the best teams in the country.

What the Owls discovered as they took third place in the tournament was that they were not only a good team, but one of the best in the nation.

Losing only to Washington State University in the semifinals, Rice dominated some of the best volleyball teams in the country en route to their highest finish ever in the U.S. standings.

Rice was seeded 15th out of 47 teams and played a round-robin Thursday with three other teams.

Rice defeated Marist 15-1, 15-5; Luther College 15-6, 15-5; and Kent State University 15-7, 15-1 for a clean sweep of their bracket.

Senior Jeff Pope led Rice in kills against Marist and contributed eight and four more kills against Luther and Kent, respectively .

"Jeff Pope and [senior] Tom (Koini) really dominated for us all day," junior Mike Marziani said. "They were both screwed out of All-Tourney selections."

The second day of the tournament saw Rice playing in a pool of three teams to determine seeding.

Rice defeated the seventh- seeded Howard Payne 15-11, 15-13 and the University of Tennessee 10-15, 15-6, 15-10 to clinch the No. 7 seed going into Saturday.

Freshman setter Joe Miller had 30 assists to lead the squad against Howard Payne but struggled against Tennessee.

The Owls' backup setter Andy Cunningham replaced Miller and came up big with 31 assists.

"Andy's performance was huge," Marziani said. "Everyone on our squad can contribute when needed."

The team had quickly moved up in the tournament standings, from the 15th to the seventh seed, and felt as if they had the momentum going into the playoffs.

"We knew we had a great opportunity this year," Pope said about Friday's matches. "You could really see our confidence building with each game."

Saturday's matches were the toughest yet for Rice.

After handily beating the No. 10 seed Messiah College, Rice was up against the No. 1 seed, Eckerd University .

The team knew they needed a big performance if they were to continue advancing in the single-elimination portion of the tournament.

The spark the team needed was Marziani. The junior had seven consecutive kills in the opening game as he went on to a career-high nine in the match.

Senior Chris Kwoh contributed eight more kills as Rice defeated Eckerd 15-12, 15-12.

"It was such a great game," Pope said. "The guys from Eckerd were just big-time jumpers, and Mike just went to work and picked them apart early. It allowed the rest of the squad to step up."

Rice finished their run in the tournament by losing to Washington State 15-10, 15-8.

"We just played horribly against Washington State," Kwoh said.

"If we had played like we did against Eckerd, we would have won, and we would have won big. The upside was that, except for the last match, we improved throughout the course of the tournament. We rock."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the April 26, 1996 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.