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| Owls nail first victory after early setbacks |
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by Ying Pan
The Rice women's volleyball team won its first home game Tuesday night by defeating the University of Texas at San Antonio. This morale and confidence-boosting win came as a relief for the Owls, who recently returned home from a string of disappointing road losses. A 10-1 victory over UTSA in Tuesday's opener at Autry Court snapped the team's losing streak, and improved its record to 1-7. The Owls swept UTSA in three games with scores of 15-10, 15-12 and 15-6. Sophomore outside hitter Kelly Smith powered the offense with 14 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Karolina Zelinka and freshman setter Nil Kalagoglu also contributed, with 16 kills and 41 assists, respectively. Freshman outside hitter Tamara Kuckemeyer led the Roadrunners with 13 kills. The win lessened the blow of Rice's poor performance in last weekend's Stephen F. Austin Tournament in Nacogdoches. The Owls' first opponent in the tournament, the University of North Texas, claimed the first two games in the match, 13-15 and 8-15. During the third game, Rice recovered and improved offensively, with an attacking percentage of .328, capturing the game by the score of 15-9. UNT rebounded in the fourth game with an impressive .414 attacking percentage and won the game 12-15 to take the match. Smith provided most of the offensive power with 33 kills and a .348 hitting percentage, while Zelinka tacked on 17 kills. Defensively, senior setter Carolyn Sarnecki, Zelinka and Kalagoglu each posted double-digit digs. Host Stephen F. Austin University came next on the agenda. SFA shut out Rice in three games, 9-15, 10-15, 8-15. SFA dominated all aspects of the game by out-killing, out-setting and out-digging the Owls. Freshman middle blocker Klara Zelinka and Smith led the Owls offensively, nailing 11 and 10 hits, respectively. Kalagoglu led the team with 29 sets. Rice's defense struggled, finishing with only 25 digs compared to SFA's 38. Its match against the University of Central Florida continued the Owls' losing streak. The team lost the match in three games 15-12, 15-9, 15-8, dropping their record to 0-6. The Owls again faltered defensively, averaging a .119 attacking percentage to Central Florida's .280. Smith tallied 17 kills for a superb .448 hitting percentage while Kalagoglu anchored the defense with 10 digs. In their last match of the tournament, the Owls faced Arizona State University. The team started well, taking the first game by a score of 15-11. The women had difficulty stopping ASU's offensive attack and lost the next three games 3-15 7-15, 5-15. Several ASU players contributed double-digit kills for a team total of 69 kills. ASU's hitting percentage of .298 dwarfed the Owls' mere .166. In spite of the team's overall losses, the tournament wasn't a complete wash. Several players achieved career-high records. Smith collected 88 kills in the four matches, including a career high of 33 kills against UNT. Sarnecki had a personal best seven kills and 26 attempts against UNT, and Karolina Kelinka had a career best five service aces against Central Florida. The Owls will compete in Columbus, Oh. on Friday and Saturday against competitors Akron University, Seton Hall University and Ohio State University.
This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 19, 1997 issue. |
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