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University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Rice
Volleyball Loses at Rice to Conclude Regular Season
11/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 10, 2005
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HOUSTON - Becca Sartori slapped 21 kills on a .385 attack percentage, but the University of Houston volleyball team lost a 3-1 decision to Rice (30-32, 26-30, 31-29, 14-30) in the regular season finale for both schools at Autry Court on Thursday night.
"I can't take anything away from Rice," head coach Bill Walton said. "They played a lot better tonight than the last time we played them. They executed their scouting report against us better than we executed our scouting report against them."
"We had some rough moments, and we just need to learn from this match," libero Jaci Gonzalez said. "We did some things well, but we have to put the loss behind us and get ready for the conference tournament."
Houston (16-11, 10-4 C-USA) was playing its fifth match over a 10-day period. Walton elected to rest kills-leader Kariny Ritter for the second consecutive match.
The Cougars have secured a first-round bye at the upcoming C-USA Tournament hosted by Rice at Autry Court on Nov. 17-20. However, Houston's seed is still up in the air.
If Tulsa loses one of two matches this weekend, the Cougars will be the No. 2 seed. The Cougars end up the No. 3 seed if the Golden Hurricane sweep both UTEP and Tulane on the road.
Zuela Adom chipped in 10 kills on a .381 attack percentage, while Justine Farmer picked up her team-best 15th double-double adding 12 kills and 18 digs.
Jennifer Hohl added a double-double, dishing out 44 assists to go along with 12 digs. During the match, Hohl become the ninth Houston player in school history to surpass 2,000 career assists.
Gonzalez was one of four Cougars with double-digit digs, anchoring the back row with a match-high 27 digs.
The opening game was a frame of runs as Rice jumped out to a quick lead scoring nine of the first 12 points of the match, but Houston charged back on a 12-2 spurt to grab a 14-11 advantage. During the run, the Cougars got kills from five different players, including a pair of spikes from Sartori and Adom.
The Owls (17-9, 8-7 C-USA) fired back with four consecutive points to regain a 15-14 lead. From that moment, no team would lead by more than two points, tying 15 times and exchanging the lead on six occasions.
Two service errors haunted the Cougars down the stretch, and Rice got a kill from Olaya Pazo for the 32-30 game one victory. The Owls out-blocked UH, 4-1 in the opening game.
Game two would prove to be a similar affair. Rice nailed a match-best 22 kills. The Owls gained the lead for good at 18-17 and never looked back for a 30-26 win taking a two-game lead into the locker room.
Rice looked to end Senior Night with a sweep, but Houston fended off four match points en route to six straight points to force a fourth game gutting out a 31-29 game three victory. Houston turned up the defensive pressure forcing three Rice attack errors.
"That was one of the big pluses to tonight's match," Walton said. "After losing two close games that we could have won, we didn't give up in that third game."
The Owls regained the momentum and sprinted out to a 13-7 advantage in the fourth game. Rice connected a match-best .500 attack percentage over the final game, and closed out the match scoring 17 of the 24 points for a 30-14 victory.
Kristana Hoban paced Rice with a triple-double knocking 10 kills to go along with 52 assists and 12 digs. Tessa Kuykendall fueled three other Owls with double-doubles, knocking home 14 kills and was a force defensively with 12 blocks.
Houston will have a week off to prepare for the C-USA Tournament and will not play until the quarterfinal round on Friday.
"Having the bye works to our advantage because we get to see our opponent play the day before," Gonzalez said. "It's like a new season for everyone and we just have to come out and play our game."
"We'll have our full line-up back and ready to go," Walton said. "We're going to have some flexibility, but the most important thing is that we're going to get some rest and get refocused."
UH's quarterfinal opponent and gametime has yet to be determined. Check UHCougars.com for the latest information.
Cougar Bytes:
Houston and Rice split the regular season series in its first season as Conference USA rivals ... The Cougars fall to 6-4 this season in four-game matches ... Justine Farmer picked up her team-leading 15th double-double on the season; Houston is 10-5 when Farmer reaches that feat ... Becca Sartori slapped over 20 kills for the third time this season ... Sartori is 13 block assists away from reaching the Top 10 in the Houston record books ... The Houston native has notched double-digit kills in 21 of 27 matches and is 29 kills shy from reaching 1,000 plateau for her career ... Jennifer Hohl became the ninth Cougar to reach 2,000 career assists ... Hohl now has 2,018 career assists and is 85 assists away from tying Amie Roberts (1991-1992) for No. 8 all-time ... Kelly McAnelly is 54 kills away from reaching the Top 10 in the Cougar record books ... With 11 digs, Cinthia Piva become the fourth Cougar to go over 100 digs for the season ... Jaci Gonzalez surpassed the 600-dig mark for the second consecutive season ... Gonzalez moved into the No. 3 spot in career games played passing Kristin Guidish (1995-1999). ... The San Antonio native has now played in 461 career games; she is 11 games away from the No. 2 spot held by Sami Sawyer (1993-1996).
