Tulane University
at Rice*
Miscues Costly As Volleyball Falls At Rice, 3-0
Oct 30, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 30, 2005
HOUSTON, Texas - Timely miscues proved costly as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Conference USA foe Rice Sunday afternoon at Autry Court.
Senior outside hitter Blair Moon had 13 kills, and senior libero Kelli Dickson posted a match-best 21 digs, but it was not enough to overcome 26 attack errors, four service errors, five reception errors, one blocking error and a ball-handling error by the Green Wave. With the 30-21, 30-28, 30-24 loss, Tulane falls to 2-11 on the year and 1-9 in C-USA play. Rice, meanwhile, improves to 15-7 overall and 6-5 in league action.
"Inconsistent play and inexperience got the best of us again," first-year Tulane coach Liz Kritza said. "We can not accept losing and become numb to it. That is our biggest battle right now. We are looking forward to the rest of the conference season, and getting ready for the C-USA Tournament in three weeks."
The Green Wave fell behind 10-5 early in game one, but battled back to cut the lead to one at 13-12. Rice used a 3-0 run to give itself a four-point lead, and had a 7-0 rally late to cruise to a nine-point victory.
Game two was a different story as Tulane jumped out to the 10-5 lead, but it was the Owls with the big comeback as Rice tied things up at 13-all. The two teams traded the next 16 points, but with the score knotted at 21s, the Owls scored three straight and seemed to have Tulane on the ropes later with a 28-25 advantage. Tulane fought back to tie the stanza at 28-all, but Rice scored the final two points to take a 2-0 lead going into the break.
The third game was all Rice as the Owls scored the first two points and never looked back. The lead got to as large as four on several occasions, but Tulane refused to give in and was down just two at 21-19. From there, however, the Owls outscored Tulane 9-5 the rest of the way to complete the three-game sweep.
Karyn Morgan was one of three Rice players to post double-digit kill totals with 15, while Olaya Pazo had 14 and Tessa Kuykendall posted 12. Jessica Holderness paced the Owls with 13 digs while Pazo and Kristina Hoban had 10 each.
The Green Wave return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 2, when they play host to C-USA foe UTEP at 7 p.m. at the G. Rollie White Coliseum on the campus of Texas A&M. Admission to Tulane "home" matches at White Coliseum is free, but a donation box will be at the main ticket window for anyone wishing to make a monetary contribution to the Tulane Athletic Department.
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