The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 2, Ed. 1 Friday, September 3, 1999 Page: 13 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER SPORTS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
13
1
Owls open season with home loss
Karolina Zelinka sets personal bests as Owls fall to Southwest Texas State
by Ben Weston
THKKSHER EDITORIAL STAFF
ROBERT GADDI/THRESHER
Senior setter Soleil Thon (2) sets for junior outside hitter Reml Aderohunmu in
Wednesday's opener. Rice lost to Southwest Texas State in four games.
It is a rare team that can get away
with it. But once in a while a team
comes along that can play miser-
ably, lose to a weaker opponent and
still be impressive.
The volleyball team did just that
Wednesday night, falling 16-14, 12-
15, 10-15, 13-15 to the Southwest
Texas State University Bobcats.
"Any time we hit the ball the way
we should, we dominated," Head
Coach Julio Morales said.
The problem was that the Owls
did not hit the ball the way they
should have. According to Morales,
they did not serve well either. In
addition, he said, the defense never
adjusted to the Bobcats' soft kills
and the setting was off (starting set-
ter Nil Kalagoglu injured her ankle
in warm-ups and did not play).
Simply put, it was an all-around
weak performance.
Nevertheless, there were many
bright spots for the Owls and many
things to build on in the future. They
stayed with the Bobcats throughout
the match, repeatedly starting games
badly but then rallying back.
In fact, it was even a record-setting
evening for one player, as senior out-
side hitter Karolina Zelinka set new
career highs in kills (29), attempts
(72) and digs (26). And both senior
outside hitter Kelly Smith and junior
outside hitter Klara Zelinka finished
with double-doubles in digs and kills.
'This was a quick
awakening for the
freshmen. We still
haven't meshed as a
team.'
— Julio Morales
Head Coach
Klara Zelinka also hit 16 kijls in
30 attempts with three errors for a
team-high .433 hitting percentage.
Combine that with seven blocks for
freshman middle blocker Briana
Cook and career highs in almost
every statistical category for sopho-
more defensive specialist Michelle
Craven, and on paper, it wasn't a bad
game at all.
And Morales was able to use al-
most every player in the match,
which should help the team work
together in the long run.
This was a quick awakening for
the freshmen," Morales said. "We still
haven't meshed as a team, so the sub-
bing was a way to get things going."
There are still question marks
surrounding this team, especially re-
garding the middle of the court.
But if nothing else, the Owls can
take solace in the fact that they stayed
very close throughout a match
against a team that won its confer-
ence and made the NCAA tourna-
ment last season.
There are a lot of problems to
solve before the beginning of con-
ference play in October, but the po-
tential for a successful season cer-
tainly remains.
Though the discipline required
to run a new offense is still not quite
there, the Zelinka sisters and Kelly
Smith are hitting very powerfully,
and Cook's blocking skills have been
a pleasant surprise to the coaching
staff.
Tonight the Owls begin play in
the Lehigh Invitational in Pennsyl-
vania, a tournament they are favored
to win, against host Lehigh Univer-
sity. Tomorrow they face the Col-
lege of William and Mary and the
University of Virginia.
BY THE
NUMBERS
■■
v •:!
&A:
VOLLEYBALL
SOUTHWEST TEXAS ST 3 RICE 1
SWTSU 14 15 15 15
Rice 16 12 10 13
Final Stats
Kills
Errors ■
Attempts
Attack Percentage
Assists
Service Aces
Digs
Blocks
Individual Stats
SWTSU
72
25
200
.235
68
7
84
15.0
Rice
76
36
208
.192
71
5
89
11.0
til
mm
Kills
SWTSU — Dallao 18, Bedford 13, Stahl 13, Ivy
13
Rice — KaZelinka 29, KSmith 23, KlZelinka
16
Assists
SWTSU — Spann 55
Rice — Thon 61
Digs
SWTSU — Stahl 17, Wlllnerd 16, Spann 13, Dallao
11
Rice — KaZelinka 26, Thon 13. KlZelinka 12,
Craven 12, KSmith 11
Attendance — 475
WAC COACHES' POLL
(The 1999 Western Athletic Conference Pre-
season Coaches' Poll, with first-place votes In
parentheses)
1. Hawaii (7)
2. Fresno State
3. Rice
San Jose State (1)
o5. Southern Methodist
6. Texas Christian
7. Texas-El Paso
8. Tulsa
FOOTBALL
WAC MEDIA POLL
(The 1999 Western Athletic Conference Pre-
season Media Poll, with first-place votes In pa-
rentheses)
1. Texas Christian (13)
2. Fresno State (5)
3. SMU
4. Rice
5. UTEP
6. Tulsa
7. San Jose State
8. Hawaii
V w t '
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McAlister, Jett & Tam, Mariel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 2, Ed. 1 Friday, September 3, 1999, newspaper, September 3, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246653/m1/13/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.