CSNbbs

In the 3rd, Rice was down 5 points in the set but have tied it at 14.

Currently on the floor: McCardell, Rawlings, Fowler, Grippo, Adekunle, and Shore.

Rice takes set 3, 25-22. Both teams switched up their lineups throughout.

Playing 5 sets.

Starters in the 4th: Maruska, Rawlings, Fowler, Courtley, Kostelecky, and LaBue now the Libero.

Courtley, Graham, LaBue, Maruska, Shore, and Foord in. 6-7 in the 4th.

So they are playing 5 sets no matter what as an exhibition?

(08-21-2021 02:48 PM)owl95 Wrote: [ -> ]So they are playing 5 sets no matter what as an exhibition?

Yes. Rice and UH did the same 2 years ago.

No Lennon. No Adekunle. No Bichelmeyer. No problem..
Rice takes the 4th, 26-24.

Sounds a good tune up with in game conditions before the season starts.

Foord and Shore getting a lot of playing time in the 5th. Bichelmeyer also back in. Samojedny also getting time.

Rice loses the 5th 8-15. Mainly the freshmen and "freshman" played.

(08-21-2021 01:55 PM)dragon2owl Wrote: [ -> ]25-13, 2nd set. Bichelmeyer was more involved in the offense. Think only counted 2 service errors. Graham had a nice kill on an overpass. Maruska played the whole set in place of Courtley.

Unless Bichelmeyer shows vast improvement over last season's disappointing showing, I think both Courtley and, especially, Maruska, get more playing time. Maruska was really, really good-- both offensively and defensively (blocking) the latter part of last season.

Looks like our first opponent of the season (Pitt), won 3-1 vs Cincinnati, 25-16, 25-18, 25-21, 19-25

Texas State is receiving votes, and finished last year really strong with a 3-1 win over Baylor and then a 1st round NCAA tournament win over Utah State. Beating them the first four sets today is a good sign of things to come.

Really encouraging outing given Texas State is a quality opponent, having received votes in the poll to warrant a Top 40 ranking.

I'm a bit surprised Kostelecky didn't play more. She was our best blocker last year, and was not bad on offense either. I suspect Adekunle will see 60% - 66% of the action at MB, with Kostelecky rotating in the rest of the time. As good as Anota is, I don't think we lose that much with Kostelecky in.

As I've said before, IMO the key to the season-- whether we're simply Top 25 or truly move into the elite class-- will depend upon three factors: (1) do we have a consistent efficient 3rd option on offense so that defenses don't simply double team on Nicole and Anota, (2) have we improved our service game-- both in receiving/defending and dramatically improving our service aces:service error ratio, and (3) improving our back-line defense, which was average at best last year. Unfortunately, we're a year away from getting an elite libero on campus, as we have two of them committed in back-to-back years.

If you want to see the Rice vs Texas match from last year...
Not the best quality.



https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/...21?page=47

No surprise, we're unanimous pick to win the West, with Nicole selected as preseason POY. Carly and Anota join Nicole on the all-conference team. Surprised WKU received only 5 of the 7 votes to repeat in the East....

https://riceowls.com/news/2021/8/24/wome...hamps.aspx

Rice Volleyball has a new lounge just for them shown on the Rice Owl website. Really a nice step in the right direction. Not sure if women soccer and basketball have the same.

(08-24-2021 04:09 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote: [ -> ]No surprise, we're unanimous pick to win the West, with Nicole selected as preseason POY. Carly and Anota join Nicole on the all-conference team .Surprised WKU received only 5 of the 7 votes to repeat in the East...
.
https://riceowls.com/news/2021/8/24/wome...hamps.aspx

Western Kentucky just split 4 games with #3 Kentucky (last year's champs) in an exhibition.

FIU was picked 1st by someone? They were 3-10 last year. Weird.

(08-24-2021 04:49 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: [ -> ]

(08-24-2021 04:09 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote: [ -> ]No surprise, we're unanimous pick to win the West, with Nicole selected as preseason POY. Carly and Anota join Nicole on the all-conference team .Surprised WKU received only 5 of the 7 votes to repeat in the East...
.
https://riceowls.com/news/2021/8/24/wome...hamps.aspx

Western Kentucky just split 4 games with #3 Kentucky (last year's champs) in an exhibition.

FIU was picked 1st by someone? They were 3-10 last year. Weird.

WKU is #16 and deservedly so. They bring back everyone as do we. I know Kentucky is preseason #3, but I just don't get how given they lost last season's national player of the year in their setter (a key factor in any offense's efficiency), as well as their all-american outside hitter, the elder Skinner sister, who transferred to Baylor. I'm sure they'll still be very, very good, but #3 seems only a bit less absurd than their ranking Stanford in the preseason Top 15 last year after losing four first-team all-americans, including 3-time national POY, and another third-teamer. Note-- Stanford ranked preseason #21 this year, ahead of us, is equally absurd, given how bad they were last year, and they lost their best player on last year's squad. I know they have back-to-back Top 5 recruiting classes, but they bring back very little proven, experienced talent at the D1 level.