University of Houston Athletics
Volleyball Opens Conference Play This Weekend
9/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2005
UTEP and Tulane Weekend Notes (PDF)
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HOUSTON - After having three matches postponed due to Hurricane Rita last weekend, the University of Houston volleyball team begins the `second season' with its Conference USA opener at UTEP on Friday night. The Cougars conclude the weekend against Tulane on the Texas A&M campus Sunday afternoon.
The match against the Miners is a homecoming for freshman Justine Farmer who was named 2004 El Paso Times Most Valuable Player. Farmer and the Cougars come into the weekend ranked No. 3 in the Midwest Region behind conference rival Rice and Eastern Kentucky.
UH has struggled going 1-4 away from the Athletics/Alumni Center this season, but all four losses have come against opponents with a RPI of below 60.
The Cougars (5-7, 0-0 C-USA) are looking to turn things around entering the weekend 18-4 all-time against UTEP (10-4, 0-2 C-USA) and Tulane (1-2, 0-0 C-USA).
This weekend will mark the first time since 1988 that Houston will square off with UTEP on the volleyball court. The Cougars rallied for a 3-2 win after dropping the first two games. The only other meeting in the series came in 1984 when UH emerged with a 3-0 victory.
Houston and Tulane have met on a yearly basis since 1996 when the Cougars joined Conference USA. The Cougars have won 16 of the 20 meetings, but the Green Wave have controlled the series of late taking the last three in the series. Two of the three wins for Tulane have come in five games.
Kariny Ritter and Jaci Gonzalez lead Houston, and were dubbed on Sept. 20 two of C-USA's 22 Players to Watch for the upcoming season.
Ritter has notched 20 or more kills in three consecutive matches, including matching a career-high pounding 23 kills in a five-game victory over Florida State (Sept. 10). She also accounted for five solo blocks against the Seminoles. The Brazilian headlines the Houston offense with 197 kills and is eighth in C-USA averaging 4.19 spikes per game. She was also named C-USA Player of the Week on Aug. 28 after recording consecutives double-doubles to start the season at the Houston Tournament.
Gonzalez enters the weekend only 25 digs shy from securing the Conference USA career record . She currently sits ninth all-time, third among active players, on the NCAA list with 2,050 career digs. The San Antonio native is only six digs away from passing Julie Groves of Evansville (1997-2000), and moving into eight place. Gonzalez became the 13th player in NCAA history to reach the 2,000 dig plateau at the College of Charleston Invitational against South Carolina (Sept. 16).
Farmer is having a breakout freshman season for the Cougars. She leads the team with seven double-doubles, including four consecutive matches with a double-double. That feat is good enough for third individually in Conference USA.
Farmer had another strong weekend at the College of Charleston Invitational popping a career-high 24 kills on a .305 attack percentage to go along with 18 digs against CofC.
"She was our most productive outside hitter, and she played excellent defense for us," head coach Bill Walton said. "You hate to have to count on freshmen, but we are having to count on Justine pretty severely."
Houston continues Conference USA action at the Athletics/Alumni Center welcoming new C-USA foes, SMU and Tulsa, next weekend. As of right now, no make-up dates have been announced for the matches that were postponed due to the hurricane.
