Rice is currently hitting .453. South Florida is hitting .237. Which isn’t bad but Rice is out digging USF 31-16 giving Rice more offensive chances.

Rice takes the 2nd, 25-19.

Rice up 15-4 at media timeout in 3rd. What’s the record for hitting percentage as a team in a match?

25-9! Sweep!

Also, FAU beat Tulsa in 4 sets.

Where the heck has this team been all year long? Without question the most complete, best played match all season. The offense was super efficient (hitting a season-high .430 for the match), the defense was exceptional (53 digs, 6 blocks in 3 sets, holding USF to .150 hitting), the service game was solid (5 aces, only 3 errors) and our service reception was outstanding against a very good serving team. Hard to pick an MVP as Hummel, Furoyama, Bello, Peterson, Seay, Simmons and Guiterrrez all brought their A game...

Seay: 14 kills (.400), 3 digs, 1 block
Peterson: 12 kills (.310), 5 digs, 2 blocks
Simmons: 10 kills (.643), 3 digs, 1 block
Guiterrez: 5 kills (.625), 4 digs, 4 blocks
Bello: 5 kills (.750), 33 assists, 2 aces, 10 digs, 2 blocks
Hummel: 5 assists, 2 digs, 1 aces

Literally every player on the court was diving to save balls and recording digs. All I can say is BRAVO. That was as complete a win and as dominating a sweep against a very solid team as you'll see. Payback (for their blowout sweep of us earlier this month) is a *****. Let's carry this confidence and momentum into our final 4 regular season matches. If we can play consistently as we did tonight we can compete with anybody.

Heck yeah!
-17, -19, -9 sweep… I didn’t think we could make up for the 0-3 at Tampa, but I think we might have actually done that, even on aggregate points!


Rice takes over sole possession of 2nd place and now just a half game back of (idle) Tulane!

(10-30-2026 08:27 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  Also, FAU beat Tulsa in 4 sets.

FAU were the only Owls to even lose a set today! #OwlNation was 9-1!


More trivia about today’s matches, using standings at the start of the day, we had a 2-7, 4-5 (actually both tied for 4th) and a 3-6 matchup. Those would have all been the first round pairings “if the season had ended last Wednesday” and today was the start of the conference tourney.

Here’s how things look now overall…

Standings thru 10/30
W-L School [GB]
9-2 Tulane -
9-3 Rice 1/2
8-3 ECU FAU 1
7-4 Tulsa 2
6-5 USF Temple 3
5-6 UNT -
————
4-7 UAB 1
3-8 Memphis UTSA Wichita 2
1-10 clt 4

Top 8 make the conference tourney

Rice is off Sunday while the other 12 teams play a full slate.

(10-30-2026 10:02 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Heck yeah!
-17, -19, -9 sweep… I didn’t think we could make up for the 0-3 at Tampa, but I think we might have actually done that, even on aggregate points!


Rice takes over sole possession of 2nd place and now just a half game back of (idle) Tulane!

The first two sets were not as close as the final scores would have you believe as USF had mini-runs toward the end of both of those sets. From the 10 point mark onward Rice was in total command of each of those sets.

Here's the post-match presser with Genny and AJ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwT4SbQIXzI

Genny makes a good point regarding Bello contribution-- she's so offensive minded, frequently dumping the ball over herself, that opposing teams have to make adjustments for that, and that opens up holes on the court for our OHs.

I just don't understand Genny playing Schneider over Croft. Despite her height, Schneider is rarely if ever a presence in the block and she is a not an offensive threat. She just isn't very athletic and repeatedly misses easy kill put-aways. Hopefully, Arissa will be back soon. Good to see Stephanie have a strong match-- both offensively and defensively (and on her serves) after struggling for the past couple weeks.

Looking at the remaining schedules for conference teams, Tulane has it the easiest. If they can get by a suddenly formidable Temple team on the road tomorrow, they're home the rest of the way, with the season finale against Rice they're only against a Top 5 AAC opponent. FAU also has it relatively easy-- 4 of their final 5 at home, and 3 matches against the bottom of the conference (WSU, UAB, Charlotte). Note-- we're on the road for 3 of our final 4, with cellar-dwellar Charlotte our only home match...and our next match on the road at Temple could be challenging the way Temple has been playing at home of late. ECU appears to have the toughest remaining schedule as they only play likely AAC tournament teams, with 3 of the 5 matches on the road (home and home with USF, Tulsa at home, then Temple, FAU and S. Florida on the road).

Seen on yesterday's broadcast:



I suspect not many arena pep bands feature a BASS FLUTE!!!



Talk about minimal decibel impact!

Grungy -- Do you know the story behind this unconventional orchestration?

Rice RPI at 59. Definitely could get into the 40s if we win out for the rest of conference play.

(10-31-2026 04:28 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  Seen on yesterday's broadcast:



I suspect not many arena pep bands feature a BASS FLUTE!!!



Talk about minimal decibel impact!

Grungy -- Do you know the story behind this unconventional thinking?

This is an area where I can display even more expertise than my usual just-another-curmudgeon activity.



That's an alto flute.
The person playing it is my significant other, Laura Cole (Brown '83).
I'm in that photo too, partially obscured by our Drum Major/Banana, Quinn.
Athletics encouraged costume wear.

The VOB's participation varies a lot depending upon night of the week and other factors.
Last night we had five trumpets.
Last week we had two.

The VOB doesn't play at all of the home games.
Not sure how the ADept decides which ones.
I am very glad that Genny keeps us on, what with the ongoing Owl Pep Band usurpation of the BOB's support role.
The game last night went so well for the Owls that Genny never had to call a time out, so the VOB didn't get to play a single full-length tune during the game, and only one tag.
That's okay, we played the usual Fight Song, Bonnet, 30-Second Bonnet, National Anthem, and Rice's Honor.
We did play a few tunes after that, just because.
We had "Ghostbusters" cued up for the entire game.

Us, while I showed Laura your screen grabs...

I'm keeping a close eye on Tulane at Temple this afternoon. Temple is red hot, having won 3 straight, including a road sweep at ECU, and are 7-2 at home this year. It's our best chance for Tulane to get their 3rd conference loss as they've got it pretty easy with home cooking the rest of the way.

(11-01-2026 10:17 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  I'm keeping a close eye on Tulane at Temple this afternoon. Temple is red hot, having won 3 straight, including a road sweep at ECU, and are 7-2 at home this year. It's our best chance for Tulane to get their 3rd conference loss as they've got it pretty easy with home cooking the rest of the way.

Temple took first set 25-22, and it's currently 13-13 in 2nd set. Temple has 8 blocks and 3 aces. Both sides hitting .172.

Wow-- Tulane blows a 24-20 2nd set lead as Temple goes on a 6-0 run, saving 4 set points, to close out the set. Up 2-0. I'm heading out, but hopeful Temple closes this one out.

Tulane took the 3rd, 25-20.

Temple leads 4th set 19-17.

(11-01-2026 02:04 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Temple leads 4th set 19-17.

Temple takes the match 3-1 and Tulane drops into a first place tie with Rice.


ECU is trying to keep pace up 2-1 vs USF

FAU not doing as good keeping pace down 1-2 at Wichita

ECU and USF in the 5th set. ECU leading 9-8.