Volleyball upsets WKU in thriller

By Aaron Shi 11/4/15 5:27am

On Halloween afternoon, the Rice University volleyball team defeated the conference-leading No. 22 Western Kentucky University in a thrilling five-setter (25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 16-14) at Tudor Fieldhouse, snapping Western Kentucky’s 17-match win streak and avenging Rice’s five-set loss to Western Kentucky last year in the Conference USA championship match.

With the win, the Owls hand Western Kentucky their first C-USA loss of the season and improve to an 18-8 overall record and 8-4 in conference play, placing them third in the C-USA standings.

According to Rice Head Coach Genny Volpe, the Owls performed and competed at a high level.

“Today was fun,” Volpe said. ”Our team has been up and down all season, but it seems like when we play strong opponents, we step up our game. It was a battle to the very end, and we happened to come out on top this time. It was great volleyball between two evenly matched teams that run a balanced offense.”

Rice recorded season-highs in kills (83) and assists (81) with three players posting double-doubles. The C-USA Setter of the Week, sophomore setter Madison McDaniel, set a career-high 70 assists in addition to notching 12 digs. Junior outside hitter Leah Mikesky led all players with 21 kills (.280) complemented with 16 digs, and senior outside hitter Noelle Whitlock achieved a match and career-high 24 digs while also contributing 16 kills (.231). Whitlock also eclipsed 1,000 career digs late in the third set and became the 16th Owl in school history to reach such a feat.

Whitlock said the achievement helped propel the team to victory.

“I think [this achievement] helped me realize that this is going to be a big win,” Whitlock said after the match. “That would make that day so much better, just having both this win and 1,000 digs.”

Rice took the first set 25-23 without ever trailing and held Western Kentucky to a .222 hitting percentage. The Owls never trailed in the second set either, winning 25-21 and led by as much as seven, maintaining a match-high .465 kill percentage. However, the Toppers rallied from behind to take the second and third sets 25-22 and 25-23, respectively, to force a deciding fifth set. The Toppers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the fifth set, but the Owls responded with a 7-1 run and never looked back, winning 16-14 to complete the upset.

Rice now prepares for their upcoming road games against the University of Texas, San Antonio on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Marshall University on Sunday at 12 p.m. UTSA sits just above Rice at second place in the Conference USA standings, while Marshall is in eighth place with an even 6-6 record.