What did they do to our volleyball team? Can’t handle the serve. Can’t attack in the court. Can’t set. Play in block is non-existent, just embarrassing.

Rice starts the 2nd with a service error.

0-3 all on Rice errors.

10-7.

Are we back online?
Rice takes set 2, 25-19.
Rice takes set 3, 25-13.

Currently down in the 4th at the media timeout, 12-15.

20-19. Tulane timeout.

20-21 Rice timeout.

22-22

22-24

24-24 Tulane timeout

Cmon Owls!

26-24!!

Blocker then out!
Another blocked and it’s 26-24! Owls win!!

Just got home from a family dinner, and I’m very happy to see an Owl victory.

Well done ladies!

What a comeback! I like scrolling through these threads, feels like I’m watching the match! Only thing we’re missing right now is Walt’s commentary :)

(10-28-2026 08:04 PM)sammyleadstheway Wrote:  What a comeback! I like scrolling through these threads, feels like I’m watching the match! Only thing we’re missing right now is Walt’s commentary :)

The site went down after the first set and didn’t come back online till halfway through the 4th. I’m sure he’ll provide a summary.

Amazing turnaround after a disaster of a first set; a set in which we played so poorly I doubt we could have beaten a good high school team. IMO, credit the turnaround to the suddenly revitalized backline defensive play of Hummel and Furoyama (neither of whom could do anything in that first set). The two of them were amazing the final 3 sets, diving all over the court saving points. And we needed it because the play in the block was worse than non-existent. We didn't even attempt to block on the majority of Tulane attacks. Offense continues to be a major issue that has to be fixed. Simmons is our only OH who is consistently aggressive on her attacks and she is by far our most efficient attacker. As has been pointed out repeatedly, as improved as Peterson has been for us this year, her height makes her a liability when attacking from the front line. She either hits it long or into the blocker...then gets frustrated and sends worthless taps over the net on good kill opportunities, allowing the opposition to go on the offensive. Guiterrez, who was so lethal the first half of the year, is suddenly struggling offensively...and while Schneider had a number of kills, she flubbed or passed up (with taps) numerous others. And despite her height, she didn't come close to blocking anything tonight. Zora Bello, who replaced Skopal after the first set, was a spark. Her setting wasn't great, but she got a bunch of sneaky kills and she's the best server on the team.

This was a must win and we got it against a very good Tulane squad, who played well tonight save for their service game (14 service errors kept us in the 2nd or 4th sets). Note that we won the final set despite being outhit .256 to .182. And the way we won should hopefully be a confidence booster. Having said that, we need to play much better and more consistent.

Peterson: 20 kills (.226), 8 digs, 1 block
Simmons: 12 kills (.360)
Hummel: 4 assists, 1 ace, 24 digs
Furoyama: 1 ace, 18 digs

BTW, it was a smaller than usual home crowd due to the Wednesday evening scheduling, but very vocal and supportive.

A few unprofessional reactions from being there. And very few of us were there.

Set 1 - Attack error after attack error. Surprised we had a positive hitting %. Dug too deep a hole to climb out of.
Set 4 - Tulane's service errors doomed them. Wish the stats showed them by set.

Agree with Walt on blocking. Way too many unopposed or poorly opposed Tulane attacks. OTOH, the backline defense after set 1 was excellent.

I'm mystified by Genny's lineups and substitution patterns. Bello? Played well, but only saw mopup time before this match. Technically her sets appeared average, but got the job done. Schneider and Simmons? Not on the radar early season. Dorotik and any Smith weren't there. And Mateo has suited up the last few matches but hasn't seen action. Is there an issue? Injury? My sense is that Rice has a deep bench of good players but no one who I would consider superior. Maybe the secret is finding who's on any particular night.

(10-28-2026 10:16 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  A few unprofessional reactions from being there. And very few of us were there.

Set 1 - Attack error after attack error. Surprised we had a positive hitting %. Dug too deep a hole to climb out of.
Set 4 - Tulane's service errors doomed them. Wish the stats showed them by set.

Agree with Walt on blocking. Way too many unopposed or poorly opposed Tulane attacks. OTOH, the backline defense after set 1 was excellent.

I'm mystified by Genny's lineups and substitution patterns. Bello? Played well, but only saw mopup time before this match. Technically her sets appeared average, but got the job done. Schneider and Simmons? Not on the radar early season. Dorotik and any Smith weren't there. And Mateo has suited up the last few matches but hasn't seen action. Is there an issue? Injury? My sense is that Rice has a deep bench of good players but no one who I would consider superior. Maybe the secret is finding who's on any particular night.

Simmons has earned the playing time. And Dorotik played herself out of playing time. I don't understand Genny's fascination with Schneider, who has height, but very little athleticism. Yes, Croft had a couple early unforced attack errors on easy kill opportunities, but she is far more skilled. Quite honestly, there's no comparison. Not sure why Aaliyah Smith was in the regular rotation that first set and then benched the rest of the match. Peterson and Seay struggled more than her that first set. As for Arissa Smith, not sure what's going on. I asked her parents at the match whether she was injured, and the response I got was ambiguous to say the least. If she was injured you'd think she'd be at the match lending support (as was the case with her sister and Croft earlier in the season). AJ is inconsistent from match to match, much as Aaliyah Smith was her Freshman season last year, but she's going to be a good one for us. I understand why Genny is sticking with Peterson as our lone 6-rotation player, but can't understand why we continue to feed her at such a high frequency when she playing the front line. She is much, much more efficient when attacking from the backline for the reasons stated above. Not sure what's up with Mateo. I don't think she was ever injured or ill. She simply was not setting really poorly for a spell there and Skopal replaced her. Bello has been subbing for Skopal on occassion when we're playing poorly (e.g., the UNT, Tulsa and first set tonight) and, as I said, she is clearly our best server. (As you can tell, I beyond frustrated with Genny having Hummel, Furoyama and Love continue to use lollypop/floating serves when they are clearly not fooling anybody and simply puts the opposition in system for easy kill opportunities.

(10-28-2026 10:16 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  A few unprofessional reactions from being there. And very few of us were there.

Set 1 - Attack error after attack error. Surprised we had a positive hitting %. Dug too deep a hole to climb out of.
Set 4 - Tulane's service errors doomed them. Wish the stats showed them by set.

Agree with Walt on blocking. Way too many unopposed or poorly opposed Tulane attacks. OTOH, the backline defense after set 1 was excellent.

I'm mystified by Genny's lineups and substitution patterns. Bello? Played well, but only saw mopup time before this match. Technically her sets appeared average, but got the job done. Schneider and Simmons? Not on the radar early season. Dorotik and any Smith weren't there. And Mateo has suited up the last few matches but hasn't seen action. Is there an issue? Injury? My sense is that Rice has a deep bench of good players but no one who I would consider superior. Maybe the secret is finding who's on any particular night.

Tulane had 6 service errors in the 4th.

Dorotik was there and dressed but has been off for some time. Hence Simmons in the lineup.
Croft started at MB but I think Genny thought some size would help in the block so she subbed in Schneider.

It was good that the middle school (high school?) girls were there because the Rice crowd was so quiet even when Rice was doing well. Wish Rice fans were more vocal.