University of Houston
Rice
Volleyball Sweeps Rice, 3-0, on Senior Night
11/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 13, 2008
HOUSTON - The University of Houston closed out the conference season Thursday night with a 3-0 (25-17, 30-28 and 25-23) win over cross-town rival Rice at the Athletics Alumni Center.
Senior Justine Farmer finished the night with 15 kills and five digs, while sophomore Lucy Charuk finished with 12 kills on 19 attempts for a .579 hitting percentage.
Senior Kelsey King added 29 assists and 10 digs for her 12th double-double this season.
The Cougars opened the first set strong, taking a 6-2 lead before a timeout from the Rice bench. Houston continued to set the tone of the match out of the break before the Owls were able to make a run midway through the match to tie the score, 16-16. With the tie, Houston called its first timeout to regroup and regroup they did. The Cougars came off the bench to outscore the Owls 9-1, including four-straight points to win the first set, 25-17.
UH opened the second set almost exactly the way they started the match, taking a 6-1 advantage before the Owls called a timeout. Rice would chip away at the deficit and take their first lead of the set, after scoring the opening point. From that point on both teams would trade eight lead changes and there would be 15 tie scores before the Cougars would come away with a 30-28 second set win.
The 30 points scored in the second set are the most for the Cougars since the winning score was reduced to 25 prior to the start of the season.
In the third set it looked as though the Owls would get their first win of the night, leading 19-16 late in the set but head coach Bill Walton called his first timeout and regrouped his Cougars who would battle back to tie the set, 22-22. Houston took back the lead on the next point, 23-22, and go on to score the next two points to win the match.
With the win, Houston finishes out conference play with a 10-6 record and an 18-11 record.
Prior to the match, Houston honored its three seniors--Justine Farmer, Kelsey King and Barbara Freitas.
UP NEXT
The match against Rice was the final tune-up before the Cougars travel to Memphis, Tenn., for the 2008 Conference USA Championship on Nov. 20-23. Following the conference tournament, Houston will play one more match on their home court against TCU on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.
