University of Houston
Tulane
Volleyball's Rice Throws Block Party at Tulane
10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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Oct. 13, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Erin Rice registered a career-best 14 blocks as the University of Houston volleyball team swept Tulane 3-0 (33-31, 30-17, 30-26) for the second time in 13 days Friday night at Folgelman Arena in a Conference USA match.
The Cougars (14-9, 5-3 C-USA) mauled a season-best 16 blocks, holding Tulane (9-7, 5-2 C-USA) to a .093 attack percentage for the match. Houston neutralized reigning C-USA Player of the Week Sara Radosevic to 14 kills on 12 errors and a .044 attack clip.
"The team did a wonderful job of being ready to play on the road and did an excellent job of executing our blocking gameplan that we worked on all week in practice," head coach Bill Walton said. "Erin was a force at the net and has picked up her level of play in conference."
Rice blocked five balls in the opening game, fueling a game one comeback. Down 29-26, the Cougar defense forced three consecutive Tulane attack errors coupled with a Sunshine Misa-Uli kill to grab a 30-29 lead. Houston emerged with a 33-31 win two Misa-Uli kills and a Justine Farmer kill later.
"The key to that game was being able to move (Kelly) McAnelly up to the front row," Walton said. "She was able to set and make our block bigger at a critical time."
The Cougars jumped out to a 15-12 advantage in the second game behind a pair of aces from Becca Sartori. Houston went on a 15-5 spurt to close the game, using five Farmer kills for a 30-17 victory.
Farmer powered home 16 kills and added 12 digs for her C-USA-leading 16th double-double of the season. Kelly McAnelly added eight kills, seven digs and matched a career-high with five blocks, while Misa-Uli chipped in 11 kills and nine digs. Krystal Sculle passed out a match-high 36 assists and Lauren Dobbs tallied 11 digs making her first career start at libero.
Becca Sartori slapped six kills on a .375 attack percentage and surpassed Julie Gates (1986-89) for the No. 6 position on the career list. With two blocks, Sartori has 348 career blocks and moved past Emily Bowers (Charlotte, 1996-1999) for sole position of 26th place in the Conference USA record book
Houston outlasted Tulane 30-26 in game three en route to its 10th sweep of the season. The Cougars are 10-2 this season in three-game matches.
Houston continues its four-match road swing at UTEP for a 1pm Sunday tilt. Live stats will be available on UHCougars.com
"We can't let this win get to our heads," Walton said. "We played great with our home team attitude and need to repeat our performance Sunday at UTEP."
Cougar Notes
Houston improves to 21-4 all-time against Tulane and has won the last five meetings in the series dating back to the 2004 season ... This was the first match of the series in New Orleans since the 2003 season ... The two teams met at Texas A&M last season as Tulane played its home matches in College Station due to Hurricane Katrina last season ... Ten of Houston's 14 wins this season have come in three games ... The Cougars are 10-2 in three-game matches ... Houston is now 8-3 on Oct. 13 in the Bill Walton era ... The Cougars have won 38 of their last 45 matches dating back to November 2003 when winning game two ... Lauren Dobbs made her first career start at libero ... Dobbs reeled in 11 digs and reached the double-digit digs mark for the second time this season ... Erin Rice recorded a career-best 14 blocks ... It was the first time since 2004 that a Cougar has recorded double-digit blocks ... Loure Dews notched 13 blocks at LSU ... Justine Farmer added her team-leading and C-USA leading 16th double-double of the season ... The sophomore compiled 15 double-double all of last season and now has 31 double-doubles for her career ... Farmer has powered home double-digit kills in 26 of her last 28 matches she has played in dating back to last season ... The El Paso native is 13 digs shy from joining the 700 kills and 700 digs club ... Becca Sartori fired in six kills and now has 1,226 career kills ... The Houston native passed Julie Gates (1986-1989) for the No. 6 spot in program history ... Sartori is 81 kills away from teammate Kelly McAnelly for the No. 5 position ... Sartori also pulls within 66 kills from reaching the Top 30 in the C-USA record book ... With two blocks, Sartori has 347 career blocks moving past Emily Bowers (Charlotte, 1996-1999) for sole position of 26th place in the Conference USA record book ... She is one block away from Jazzmien Stephens (Southern Miss, 2002-2005) for the No. 25 hole ... With two block assists, Sartori has 303 block assists and surpassed Karina Faber (1990-92) for the No. 6 hole in the Houston record book in that category ... Sartori also moved past Faber in career blocks and is in the No. 9 slot ... She is 37 total blocks away from Marie-Claude Tourillon (1994-96) for the No. 8 position ... With eight kills, Kelly McAnelly now has 1,307 career kills and is 30 shy from Emily Leffers (1993-94, 1996-97) for the No. 4 position in program history ... The Houston native also is two kills away from Chrissy Smith (Cincinnati, 1995-1997) for the No. 28 hole in the Conference USA record book ... With 21 attempts, McAnelly is 578 swings away from Debbie Vokes (1994-98) for the top spot in that category in the Houston record book.
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