University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Rice
Volleyball Team Tops Rice, 3-2
10/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2006
HOUSTON, Texas -- - Four Southern Miss players recorded double-digit kills and digs, helping the Lady Eagles post their four-straight victory with a 3-2 (30-23, 30-19, 30-27, 20-30, 15-11) victory at Rice Sunday afternoon.
Southern Miss improved to 11-9 and 4-2 in the league, while Rice dropped to 10-11 and 3-4.
"The last two matches we have played were a total team effort," Head Coach Ricci Luyties said. "Some things are coming together for us and it appears we love playing five-game matches. We had a good defensive day with our blocks and digging the ball."
Junior Mari Ruddick led Southern Miss with 13 kills, followed by Angela Hlavaty with 12, Amanda Blunck had 11 and Amanda Huntoon added 10. Maia Ivanova recorded a season-high 31 digs. Blunck also added 16 digs for her second double-double of the season. Cassie Lavery and Amy Flarity had 15 and 13 digs, respectively.
Rice had five players recorded double-digit kills led by Karyn Morgan with 18, Jennifer McClean and Tessa Kuykendall had 15 kills apiece and Natalie Bogan and Jessica Boulavsky tallied 14 kills each. Yvette Kirk had a team-high 31 digs, followed by Rachel Lopez with 23 digs and 62 assists. Morgan also had 20 digs and McClean added 17.
The score was tied only once in game one, 1-1, before Rice used a 5-2 run to take a 6-3 lead. The Owls eventually led by as many as nine points, 26-17. Rice out-hit Southern Miss .210 to .102, recording 21 kills and eight blocks in the 30-23 win.
Southern Miss jumped out to an 11-5 lead behind the efforts of Blunck and Hlavaty. The Southern Miss blocking game produced 10 total blocks, holding Rice to a .041 attack percentage. Southern Miss won game two 30-19.
Southern Miss took the early lead, 3-1, before Rice used a 6-1 run to take a 7-4 lead. The Owls built a six-point lead, 17-11, when Southern Miss outscored Rice, 13-5, taking a 24-22 lead. Southern Miss held on, outscoring Rice, 4-1, for the 30-27 win.
Rice fought back to win game four, 30-20, taking advantage of 12 attack errors by Southern Miss and hold the Golden Eagles to a -.038 hitting percentage. Rice put up nine total blocks and recorded 26 digs.
Southern Miss was able to regroup in the final game, taking a 15-11 decision. Southern Miss never trailed in the game, but Rice tied the game on five occasions, the last at 6-6. Southern Miss outscored Rice 9-5. The Golden Eagles finished game five with an attack percentage of .400 with only one attack error.
Southern Miss returns home to host East Carolina and Marshall in a weekend series. First serve is set for 7 p.m., on Friday night and noon on Sunday. Both matches will be played in the Payne Center.
