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Finishing, finishing, finishing. That has been the main problem for the volleyball team this year as they dropped another five-set match on the weekend, this time to the University of North Dakota last Friday at the Chilly Fillmore's Stephen F. Austin Invitational.
After a tough opening weekend where the Owls lost in a heartbreaker to the University of Delaware (1-6) and got pushed over by Stanford University (4-0) in the Rice Invitational I, Rice (3-2) picked themselves up and played exceptionally well in the Rice Invitational II as they went undefeated for the weekend with wins over Houston Baptist University (6-2), University of Texas-San Antonio (3-4) and Georgia Tech (4-2).
Volleyball is back starting tonight and the Owls are hoping that they can get back to the NCAA tournament after not receiving a bid last year. Last year was up and down for the Owls as they finished with a .500 record at 16-16 with an 11-9 record in Conference USA play. Rice entered last year with high hopes of making a third consecutive NCAA tournament, but erratic play and close losses ended their dreams quickly.
Heading into the final weeks of the season, the Owls wanted to finish the season with a bang. Even though Rice finished second in the conference to the 36th-ranked University of Tulsa (21-7), the Owls still had a chance to beat them in the conference tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
After two weeks that saw Rice go on a four-match losing streak, the Owls are finally soaring high in the sky again thanks to a return to Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on the weekend that saw the men's tennis team win against both Southern Methodist University (16-8) and the University of Texas-Arlington (12-9).
The talent level of the opposition keeps increasing, as the Owls have dropped four matches in a row against ranked opponents after they were swept in Oklahoma this weekend by conference rival, the 35th-ranked University of Tulsa (15-6, 6-0 C-USA) and the 26th-ranked University of Oklahoma.
The Owls traveled back to Austin on Saturday to get revenge against the seventh-ranked University of Texas after they were beaten 4-0 in Austin on Jan. 30 as part of the ITA National Team Indoors Championship. Rice could not get their payback as they were trampled by the Longhorns, 6-1.
After a midseason slumber that saw the Owls drop crucial matches to both the University of San Diego and Wake Forest University, Rice got back on track by winning three in a row at home before losing to fifth-ranked Texas A&M University on Wednesday at Jake Hess Stadium.
So far this season, when the men's tennis team has played at home, one could put them down for a win. Six home matches all resulted in six convincing wins, as the Owls had flown off to a tremendous start on home turf. Last Friday, that streak came to a screeching halt as Rice lost to Wake Forest University, 5-2, in their first loss of the season at the friendly confines of Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
While most students were lounging around on beaches and getting 12 hours of sleep at home during spring break, the men's tennis team was working hard and playing crucial matches as they traveled to San Diego to play at 54th-ranked San Diego State University (1-8) and at the 20th-ranked University of San Diego (9-2) while also participating in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla, CA.The Owls started spring break off right as they beat San Diego State, 5-2 on February 28. Rice claimed the crucial doubles point thanks to wins from the pairs of senior Oscar Podlewski and sophomore Harry Fowler and juniors Christian Saravia and Isamu Tachibana. After that, the Owls put the match away as they won four of the six singles thanks to sophomore Peter Frank, Podlewski, Saravia and Tachibana.
Returning to their nest at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium after their slip-up last weekend at Louisiana State University, 34th ranked Rice continued their undefeated streak at home (5-0) with an impressive 7-0 win over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (0-5) on Friday and 6-1 wins over the University of Texas-San Antonio (2-2) and Abilene Christian University (2-2). To add to the Owls' weekend triumphs, senior Oscar Podlewski was named the Conference USA Tennis Athlete of the Week after he went 3-0 on the weekend.
There are times when effort can overcome a talent deficiency, and the men's tennis team's trip to the Pelican State was unfortunately one of those times. Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag (Baker '99) knew that it was going to be hard for the Owls to go into Louisiana and come back unscathed, especially having to take a trip to 45th-ranked Louisiana State University (1-2), who needed a win over a highly ranked Rice squad to bolster its NCAA tournament resume. "LSU was going to throw everything they had because [they knew] we were their ticket to the NCAA tournament," Ustundag said.
All good things must come to end, but the men's tennis team did not expect its win streak to come to such a screeching halt. The 29th-ranked Owls could not pull off the upset over fifth-ranked University of Texas (5-0), falling 4-0. Texas' doubles' squads overwhelmed Rice, as the Owls lost all three doubles matches and thus the first point of the overall match. The fifth-ranked doubles team of Ed Corrie and Jean Andersen took out juniors Christian Saravia and Michael Nuesslein, 8-3, and continued to falter for Rice. With Texas' Andersen, Kellen Damico and Vasko Mladenov all scoring quick victories over sophomore Peter Frank, freshman Phillip Seifert and junior Sam Garforth-Bles, respectively, three of the six singles matches went unfinished due to the fact that the Longhorns had already clinched a match victory over Rice. The loss means that Rice will not be advancing to the round of 16 to play in the ITA National Indoor Championships, which will be held in Seattle, Wash. from Feb. 18-21. The loss was the first of the spring season for the Owls, whose record is now 4-1 after starting off well in non-conference play.
Although the regular-season conference title became a more difficult goal to attain for the volleyball team due to continued wins by conference front runners the University of Tulsa and Southern Methodist University this weekend, the casual observer would not have been able to tell by the performance Rice posted this weekend. The Owls rebounded from last weekends' tough losses at home to Tulsa and SMU with a perfect weekend on the road.On Friday, the Owls started the weekend off right by beating East Carolina University (1-23, 0-12 C-USA) 3-1. For the match, sophomore middle blocker Nancy Cole had a career-high 20 kills, breaking her week-old record of 18 that she tallied against SMU, while freshman outside hitter Mariah Riddlesprigger added 15. Cole also had a remarkable .471 hitting percentage and added five blocks for the Owls. Senior setter Meredith Schamun led all players with 35 assists, while senior libero Tracey Lam had 19 digs. Junior outside hitter Jordan Meredith provided 10 digs and freshman middle blocker Megan Shepard contributed nine kills.
After a trying tournament the weekend before at Louisiana State University featuring some of the nation's top teams, the women's volleyball team returned home to feast on some lesser out-of-conference opponents in the second edition of the Rice Invitational. The return to Tudor Fieldhouse turned out to be just what the Owls needed as they posted a 2-1 record in the tournament. Although Rice lost to Arkansas State University 3-2 in its first match last Friday, the Owls played much better in their final two games of the weekend as they beat Samford University 3-1 later that night and Stephen F. Austin University 3-0 on Saturday.
While many college students return from the Pelican State still giddy from a weekend on Bourbon Street, the volleyball team had no cause for revelry, as they returned 0-3 from the Louisiana State University Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, La., last weekend. Rice fell to New Mexico State University, the University of North Carolina and LSU. On Friday, Rice faced New Mexico State. Rice did not come up with the start they wanted, as they lost the first set 25-19, with the Aggies winning seven of the first eight points.
