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The Rice Thresher
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by Chris Larson thresher editorial staff The sight was all too familiar for Rice's volleyball team. Friday night, the Owls won the first two games against San Jose State University before seeing the Spartans come back to capture the last three games and the match. Saturday night against Fresno State University, the Owls found themselves again trying to close out a win - and again having difficulty. The Owls easily won two of the first three games against the Bulldogs and appeared to be on their way to finishing the match as they jumped out to a 10-4 lead in game four. But Fresno State did not give in easily. Behind a tenacious defense and the attacks of junior middle blocker Shauna McQuaid, who registered eight kills in the game, the Bulldogs scored the last 11 points of the game for the 15-10 win to force the deciding fifth game. "Losing the last game [against San Jose State] meant we had to win," senior setter Nil Kalagoglu said. "We had to clean what we messed up. This was a team we had always played really tough. We knew it was time to win now." And the Owls did, dominating the fifth game. Led by three block assists in the game from sophomore middle blocker Briana Cook, the Owls jumped out to an 8-4 lead and held on for the victory. The previous night, Rice had allowed San Jose State to build a 5-0 lead in the decisive fifth game. "We knew that if we did the same thing as we did last night, we were going to lose," head coach Julio Morales said after the Fresno State win. Rice followed the win with a home nonconference win Tuesday night against the University of Texas at San Antonio. Junior outside hitter Leigh Leman led the Owls with 17 kills and 22 digs in the 16-14, 15-10, 15-4 win. Friday night's game against San Jose State provided an opportunity for Rice to move into second place in the Western Athletic Conference and score its first-ever win against the Spartans. The Owls looked like they were going to come through, heading into the intermission with a 2-0 lead, but the Spartans edged Rice in a close third game and then took control of the match. "That 10-minute division [between games two and three] is really important," Kalagoglu said. "And it's hard to change things around in the fifth game after they've won two because they have the momentum and there's no long break." During several stretches of Saturday night's match against Fresno State, however, it looked like a mismatch as Rice dominated every aspect. Rice won games one and three by scores of 15-4 and 15-2, respectively. The Bulldogs frequently could not put together a solid kill attempt off the Rice serve, and Owl blockers were able to block most kill attempts or tip them into the air to set up the Rice attack. "It was basically serving," Morales said. "We served well all night. Not only were we getting good serves, but the girls are getting the idea of what the serve is doing in the game." For the match, the Owls led Fresno State in service aces by a 9-4 count, and posted 15 team blocks compared to nine for Fresno State. The win keeps the Owls in contention for the Western Athletic Conference title. The University of Hawaii leads the league with a 4-0 mark, followed by San Jose State at 3-1 and Rice and the University of Nevada at 3-2. "We're in very good shape," Morales said. "We know we can beat San Jose State. We actually match up with them better than we do with Fresno State, so we can beat them when we go there."
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