Owls open conference play against Louisiana Tech at home. Rice up 2-0 in sets.

Anota Adenkule is back in action and showing no signs of rust. She has 7 kills in 7 attempts.

BTW, La Tech isn't very good so I wouldn't get too excited over a sweep. They're 0-7 and have been swept in like 5 of their 7 losses? But it's nice to have AA back.

Looks like we are giving the freshman setter some playing time and doing a 6-2 offense.

Lennon with 1500 career kills. Currently in 5th all time at Rice. 4th spot is 1508.

Owls win 3-0!

Yes, I know LaTech is awful, BUT you can see what the presence of Anota does to our entire offense. Without the double teaming they faced in all previous matches this year, both Ellie (.500 hit%) and Nicole (.435) were extremely efficient. OUr offensive trio of Nicole, Anota (.846) and Ellie combined for 33 kills with just 5 attack errors in 52 attempts. Can't get much more efficient than that.

The only negative-- still far too many service errors, and Nicole has been the worst culprit.

Onward and upward. Given the reduced NCAA tourney field (48 vs. the usual 64) and lack of quality OOC opponents (until we face Baylor and Texas at the end of the season), we weren't going to get an at large bid regardless. Need to win the conference tourney, and that's going to be a tough order against an elite and very experienced WKU squad.

Game 2
Rice takes first set, 25-14. Rice hit 0.448.

Rice takes the 2nd, 25-11.

Rice takes the 3rd, 25-21. Sweep!

Again, LaTech is probably the worst team in a very bad WVB conference. Good to see Genny getting everyone into the action. Our big 3 were nowhere near as efficient as yesterday...and Nicole continues to struggle from the service line.

Carly named CUSA setter of the week. Her setting has improved markedly over last season. Much more consistent in getting the ball in the right position close to the net for the attackers.

Nicole won CUSA offensive player of the week, though she was more dominant in losing matches the two previous weeks.

Today and tomorrow's road matches against USM will likely be our only competitive test until the CUSA tournament. Let's see if we've finally started to gel with the new players and if Genny has settled on a reduced rotation. While I fully understand the reasoning in playing everyone over the first several weeks, especially with so many newcomers, it's difficult to get into a groove with so many substitutions. Most elite teams play with a rotation of 8 or 9 players max, and that includes a service specialist for those who have one.

And we MUST clean up our service game, and quickly. It's been a real momentum killer for us.

(02-14-2021 11:20 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Today and tomorrow's road matches against USM will likely be our only competitive test until the CUSA tournament. Let's see if we've finally started to gel with the new players and if Genny has settled on a reduced rotation. While I fully understand the reasoning in playing everyone over the first several weeks, especially with so many newcomers, it's difficult to get into a groove with so many substitutions. Most elite teams play with a rotation of 8 or 9 players max, and that includes a service specialist for those who have one.

And we MUST clean up our service game, and quickly. It's been a real momentum killer for us.

We do have Baylor and Texas before the CUSA tournament...assuming you meant only conference test.

I'm pretty sure he was talking about conference play only. But honestly, no one in the west looks all that great this year. I think Western Kentucky is clearly #1 and we're a clear #2. And then, there's a massive gap.

Owls win 1st set 25-13

Rice takes the 2nd set, 25-10.

Rice takes the 3rd, 25-15. Pretty easy win. Only real downside was the 9 service errors.

Score on the CUSATV broadcast said 25–16 in 3rd set. Was there an error that the broadcast didn’t correct? Just curious.

(02-14-2021 03:19 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Score on the CUSATV broadcast said 25–16 in 3rd set. Was there an error that the broadcast didn’t correct? Just curious.

There was one point that seemed to cause confusion toward the end. They paused for a bit. Since there wasn't any commentator, I'm not sure what the actual call was. Southern Miss initially was awarded the point but then it went to Rice. So honestly, don't know which is correct (the stats link says 25-15),

(02-14-2021 03:27 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

(02-14-2021 03:19 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Score on the CUSATV broadcast said 25–16 in 3rd set. Was there an error that the broadcast didn’t correct? Just curious.

There was one point that seemed to cause confusion toward the end. They paused for a bit. Since there wasn't any commentator, I'm not sure what the actual call was. Southern Miss initially was awarded the point but then it went to Rice. So honestly, don't know which is correct (the stats link says 25-15),

OK. Thanks!

I walked away for a few moments and noticed the discrepancy between the stats link and what was being broadcast when I came back. Certainly doesn’t change the outcome, but the discrepancy seems a little strange.

Edit: Just checked the boxscore on RiceOwls.com, and it shows the 3rd set as 25-15. We’ll go with that as the correct score.

(02-14-2021 03:16 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  Rice takes the 3rd, 25-15. Pretty easy win. Only real downside was the 9 service errors.

Yes, an easy win against the 2nd best team in the West, BUT we really didn't play that well....and, again, it's difficult to get in sync with all the substitutions Genny made. Our offense was not very efficient. We won easily because our defense was strong (particularly the blocking up front) and USM's offense was beyond pathetic-- -.105 attack % with 27 attack errors (9 per set).

All 12 players on the roster played, and most played 2 or 3 sets. Hard to get in a rhythm on offense when you're constantly changing the rotation. Again, most quality teams play with a rotation of either 8 or 9 players, and that includes a service specialist for those teams that deploy one. Last year our rotation was usually 9 players, and that's because we had both Martinez and Graham splitting time at setter. (Most elite teams use primarily one setter throughout.) Graham is clearly our primary setter this year, and she's certainly earned that role.