Online only: Ill volleyball team takes weekend off

By Paul Fitzgerald     9/24/09 7:00pm

The volleyball team was looking forward to the opportunity to face second-ranked University of Washington last week, but an influenza outbreak forced the Owls (8-3) to cancel their trip to San Antonio and abandon their chance at taking on the Huskies. Rice will restart play on Friday evening's road match against the University of Memphis in their Conference USA opener. Rice defeated Memphis (2-12) in three sets in their only match last year, which took place at Fox Gym . Memphis should not present much difficulty, as the Tigers have won only two of their first 14 games. The Owls continue play on Sunday afternoon against the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Rice and UAB (7-8) played a five-set thriller last year at Fox Gym, with the Owls emerging victorious. Though UAB made the NCAA Tournament last year, the team lost its core group of seniors and have opened this year with a mediocre showing.

Though the Owls sport a better record than do both of this weekend's opponents, their two-week layoff poses a possible problem. Rice will have to try and stay sharp in practice this week to stave off any potential rust.

On the other hand, getting the week off to rest is certainly not the worst thing that could have happened over the weekend. Head Coach Genny Volpe said she felt the weekend off will give the Owls a chance to rest as their conference season approaches.

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"Trying to put together a team for the tournament would have been tough," Volpe said. "The cancellation can put things in perspective for us, and shows us that we can't take the opportunity to play for granted.

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