Volleyball takes two of three in tournament

By Maddy Adams     9/1/15 2:34pm

Rice volleyball opened its 2015 season with a trip to Austin, Texas for the American Campus Classic this weekend. The Owls began the tournament with a 0-3 loss against the nationally ranked No. 3 University of Texas, Austin on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, Rice made a dramatic comeback against Louisiana State University following a 2-0 deficit and completed the tournament with a 3-1 win against University of California, Irvine.

Junior libero Kimberly Vaio said she attributes Friday’s loss to the team’s anxiety.

“First matches typically are not the cleanest; we went into UT and the first set environment and the nerves got to us,” Vaio said. “We were missing serves, the passes weren’t crisp and we were making errors at the wrong times.”

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Rice struggled on offense during their match against UT. The Owls trailed behind the Longhorns, hitting only .067 compared to UT’s .333. According to Head Coach Genny Volpe, Rice was unable to compete against Texas’ consistent offense.

“They had firepower coming from all directions and a great setter who ran a very balanced offense,” Volpe said. “We had trouble defending this and, more importantly, had a hard time getting our offense going due to their tough serving.”

Despite the loss, Vaio said the match against UT prepared the Owls to face LSU.

“Though we lost, we knew we had things to work out and we knew that our best volleyball was yet to come,” Vaio said. “It made us that much more motivated for LSU.”

Following Friday’s loss, Rice rallied back Saturday morning and beat LSU after overcoming a 2-0 deficit. According to Vaio, the Owls were frustrated after the first two games against LSU and every member of the team was committed to rallying back and winning the match. 

“We all knew that we were the better team and we were tired of giving them the game, so we looked at each other and we made a commitment that we were going to win the next three games,” Vaio said. “Each one of us knew that there was no other option than winning and we were ready to do everything it took to pull it off.”

The last time the Owls beat the Tigers was Nov. 27, 2009, and Rice’s all-time record against LSU is a mere 3-19. Volpe said she attributes the surprising victory to mental toughness.

“This team is certainly showing that they are resilient and that they are mentally tough,” Volpe said. “It takes that level of mental toughness to come back and win against a solid program, after losing five straight sets in a row.”

Rice completed the weekend with a 3-1 win against UC Irvine and finished second in their opening tournament. Vaio said she was proud of her team’s performance and improvements from past seasons. 

“I am really proud of the team for our performance this weekend,” Vaio said. “It’s tough to bounce back from a loss right away,but we proved that we have the mindset to do it. Also,for the past three years we have struggled winning fifth games and we proved right off the bat that even if we are down by two games, we have what it takes to finish.”

According to Volpe, the Owls need to improve on their consistency and execution on offense.

“We need to improve our consistency,” Volpe said. “We were up and down all weekend which made us less efficient. We will continue to work on this and keep pressing the envelope in what we can do offensively.” 

The Owls will next play at Yale University on Sept. 4, where they will face off against University of California, Santa Barbara. 

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