Volleyball downs SMU and McNeese State in three sets, falls to Tulsa in five
Paul Fitzgerald
Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: Sports
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The Owls hit the road again as conference play continues on Friday night against the University of Marshall. The match will be at 6 p.m. in Huntington, W. Va. From there, Rice travels to Greenville, N.C., to take on East Carolina at 11 a.m. on Sunday. East Carolina and Marshall, both with 1-4 records, are the 11th and 12th place teams in Conference USA, respectively. Rice lost to Marshall 3-1 the only time the two squads faced off in 2007. The Owls will be looking for revenge against East Carolina, which also defeated Rice in 2007.
Despite her team's better standing in conference, head coach Genny Volpe said the Owls should avoid overlooking either of their upcoming opponents.
"Both teams are good ball clubs, despite their records," Volpe said. "Marshall has dominated the conference the past few years, so they have a ton of experience. East Carolina is a scrappy team, so we have to come out and play as if we have nothing to lose."
The rest of the team also expects strong competition out of both opponents this weekend.
"Marshall is the defending conference champion, so we know they're going to come out swinging against us," sophomore libero Tracey Lam said. "We expect the same from East Carolina. We just have to play sound, good defense if we want to win both matches."
Rice opened last weekend by defeating SMU on Friday night at Fox Gymnasium, winning in three sets (25-22, 25-15, 25-19). The Owls were down for much of the first set and fell behind 21-17. After that, however, the Owls went on an 8-1 run punctuated by a service ace by Lam, this week's C-USA co-defensive player of the week.
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