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University of Houston
Rice
Volleyball Sweeps Rice In C-USA Opener
9/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2011
| Houston 3, Rice 0 |
|---|
 |
| Photos | Stats | Box Score |
|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Houston | 25 | 26 | 25 |
| Rice | 19 | 24 | 22 |
| Quick Stats | UH | Rice |
| Digs | 57 | 59 |
| Assists | 45 | 43 |
| Kills | 47 | 44 |
| Blocks | 9.0 | 3.0 |
| Statistical Leaders | ||||
| Kills | Digs | Assists | BS/BA | |
| Katie Norris | 17 | 5 | 0 | 0/1 |
| Caitlin Ogletree | 1 | 4 | 40 | 0/1 |
| Natalie Keck | 0 | 26 | 3 | 0/0 |
 Schedule Roster |
HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team kicked off Conference USA action with a 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-22) sweep of the Rice Owls Tuesday night at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Junior Katie Norris led the Cougars (8-3; 1-0 C-USA) with a career-high 17 kills against the Owls. Senior Lucy Charuk finished with eight kills, while juniors Stephanie Nwachukwu and Chandace Tryon and senior Ingrida Zauere finished with seven kills.
Freshman Caitlin Ogletree had a game-high 40 assists and freshman Natalie Keck tied a career-high with 26 digs.
"It's a really great win for us," head coach Molly Alvey said. "The biggest thing we discussed tonight was that we came in with a game plan and we executed it. Any adjustments that we made were made immediately and we didn't wait for one or two points to get into it. We followed the game plan right from the beginning. I am very proud of them for that."
The Cougars took an early 13-9 lead in the first set, forcing Rice to use a timeout. Out of the break, the Owls battled back to tie the set 15-15. After trading points and playing to a 19-19 tie, Houston capitalized on three-straight kills from Norris, Nwachukwu and Charuk to regain a 21-19 lead. The Rice bench quickly called a second timeout, but Houston came out of the break scoring the next four points to earn a 25-19 win.
Charuk led all Cougars in the first set with six kills, while UH out-hit the Owls .302 to .191 in the opening set.
Houston once again took the early 8-5 lead in the second set but allowed Rice to come back and tie the score 13-13. They traded points before the Cougars were able to take a one-point lead, 23-22, into an Owl timeout. Rice came out of the break scoring the first two points to regain a 24-23 advantage. A kill by Nwachukwu tied the score, 24-24, and a Rice attack error gave UH a 25-24 lead. Zauere slapped her sixth kill of the set to give Houston a 26-24 win.
After two sets, Norris paced the Cougars with 11 kills and a .478 hitting percentage. Nwachukwu and Zauere each had seven kills and UH hit .308 as a team.
UH trailed 13-11 early in the third set but a 9-2 run by the Cougars erased the deficit, giving them a 20-15 lead. The Owls were forced to call their first timeout. Off the bench, Rice came within one of Houston, 23-22, but the Cougars called a timeout to regroup and kills from Tryon and Norris gave the Cougars a 25-23 win.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will return to the Athletics/Alumni Center to play host to Southern Miss and Tulane this weekend. Houston will play the Golden Eagles at 7 p.m., Friday and close out the weekend against the Green Wave at 1 p.m., Sunday.
