Volleyball warms up with live scrimmage
With the first match of the season looming large on its schedule, the volleyball team hosted their first annual Meet and Greet session Wednesday afternoon. The purely social event was held at Fox Gym, and several supporters of the team, including staff, sponsors, Rice faculty, students and team parents, attended. Head coach Genny Volpe started things off with team introductions and explained the team's newest fundraising effort "Block for Bucks." This season, team supporters can pledge a certain amount of money per block, with the final end-of-season donation amount based on the pledge and the number of team blocks. Last season the Owls had a Conference-USA leading 279 blocks.
After the introductions, the team split into two squads for a scrimmage. All players participated with the exception of senior middle blocker Ekaette Shammah. After a summer of recovering from a season-ending knee surgery she sustained last year, Shammah "tweaked" her knee at practice Monday and underwent a knee scope Tuesday. She will be out three weeks for rehab.
During the scrimmage Volpe commented on the team's play. She explained technical workings of the game to the crowd, answered questions, and addressed changes in the NCAA guidelines for this season.
The rule changes implemented this season aim to speed up the tempo of play. In past seasons, college volleyball sets played to 30 points. This season, college will now play up to 25 points, the same as international volleyball. Additionally, with the decrease in the maximum amount of the points, team substitutions will be limited to 12, down from 15 in previous years.
Volpe also noted a slight change in the team's schedule for the weekend. Northwestern State University has pulled out of this weekend's tournament, leaving just four teams competing in the Mizuno Invitational held at Rice: Rice, University of Michigan, UT-San Antonio and Louisiana- Lafayette University. All games will be held at Fox Gym.
One of Volpe's main complaints about her squad last season was that they often came out flat and thus had difficulty catching up after a rough start. After Wednesday's scrimmage, the team is showing promise for a sharp start to the season. The combination of talented freshmen, quicker play and evident team chemistry created solid play for the team, even though it was only an exhibition.
Volpe's optimism for the season was obvious.
"In pre-season we were picked fourth in conference," she said. "But we will be better than that.
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