Volleyball Hits the Road Again
10/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 13, 2005
 | "We have a history of great volleyball as coach (Walton) says in practice. We need to play at that level every time we step on the court." Setter Jennifer Hohl |
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HOUSTON - After picking up two sweeps over SMU and Tulsa last weekend at home, the University of Houston volleyball team hits the road for a weekend at Southern Miss and UCF. Head coach Bill Walton emphasized how important it is for the Cougars to improve their 2-5 showing away from the Bayou City.
"We have not passed well or competed as well on the road," Walton said. "We're going to try to do our best to get the team ready (to play) on the road the same way they do at home."
"We have a history of great volleyball as coach (Walton) says in practice," setter Jennifer Hohl said. "We need to play at that level every time we step on the court."
The Cougars boast Conference USA Player of the Week, Kariny Ritter, who captured the league honor on Monday for the second time this season. Ritter pumped out six kills per game last weekend on a team-high .289 attack percentage.
Ritter has notched 20 or more kills in three of her last seven matches, including equalling a career-high pounding 23 kills in a five-game victory over Florida State (Sept. 10). The Brazilian headlines the Houston offense with 262 kills and is sixth in C-USA averaging 4.37 spikes per game.
Jaci Gonzalez enters the weekend holder of the C-USA career digs mark after sprawling out for 24 digs against Tulane (Oct. 2). She currently sits seventh all-time, third among active players, on the NCAA list with 2,135 career digs.
The San Antonio native is 13 digs away from current Pitt libero Megan McClain and 111 digs shy of Becky Dreher (Oral Roberts, 2001-04) on the all-time list. Gonzalez became only the 13th player in NCAA history to reach the 2,000 dig plateau against South Carolina (Sept. 16).
Gonzalez has already pulled out 375 digs at a 6.25 per game clip. That has her second in C-USA only behind Kelli Dickson of Tulane. She is also third overall in the NCAA rankings.
Freshman Justine Farmer is having a breakout season for the Cougars. She leads the squad with eight double-doubles, including an 11-kill performance to go along with 15 digs against Tulsa (Oct. 9).
 The Cougars have won three consecutive conference matches during the regular season for the first time since 2002.  | |
Becca Sartori has been instrumental on both offense and defense this season for the Cougars.
Sartori has powered home double-digit kills in 13 of 16 matches this season. She leads the Houston offense ripping a .281 attack percentage and is third on the squad pounding 209 kills. Sartori smashed 10 kills without an error on 20 attempts connecting on a season-best .500 attack percentage against Tulsa (Oct. 9) .
On defense, Sartori paces the Cougars with 57 total blocks averaging a 0.95 per game rate. Sartori rejected five shots at UTEP (Sept. 30), and has blocked five or more shots in four matches this season.
Farmer is second on the squad, racking up 215 kills and 210 digs. She is the only player on the team cranking out more than three kills as well as three digs per game.
Jennifer Hohl has been a key cog in the Houston offense this season. The senior setter put together double-doubles in four of her last six matches. Hohl has really stepped up her play once conference play began. The Houston offense is third in C-USA matches pumping out 14.85 assists per game; Hohl accounts for 11.08 of the helpers. The Indiana native dished out 52 assists and record 10 digs against Tulane (Oct. 2) and has eclipsed the 50-assist mark four times this season.
Hohl paces the squad with 610 assists this season and currently has 1,499 assists over her two-year career. That's not all the ways she contributes. Hohl is fourth on the team with 128 digs, in addition to adding 30 total blocks.
The Cougars enter the weekend on a three-match winning streak and are 14-1 all-time against this weekend's competition.
UH has won 13 of 14 meetings against Southern Miss. The only win for the Golden Eagles in the overall series came in 2003. Eight of the 13 victories for the Cougars have been sweeps.
Sunday afternoon marks the second time that Houston and UCF will square off on the volleyball court. The two teams squared off in 1996 at the Kentucky Conference Challenge with Houston emerging with a 3-0 win.
Even though Southern Miss (5-8, 0-5 C-USA) and UCF (4-9, 2-4 C-USA) aren't playing their best volleyball entering the weekend, Walton is not overlooking the opposition.
"It really looks like (both teams) are really down, but sometimes that's the worst time to play them," Walton said. "They're going to get off the snide against somebody. I just hope it's not us."
Houston comes back to Space City USA opening a five-match homestand at the Athletics/Alumni Center against current C-USA frontrunner, Marshall (13-4, 5-0 C-USA) on Friday, October 21. UH will also take a much-improved East Carolina (11-6, 3-2 C-USA) squad on Saturday, October 22. First serve for both matches is slated for 7pm.
