Rice-Vandebilt: A Student’s Perspective
For the first home football game of the year, this one wasn't too bad. Sure it wasn't as fun as last year's, but how can you top a prime time ESPN game in which the Owls beat up on a conference rival? Even though Rice was coming into this game with an 0-3 record and had a pretty good chance of leaving it 0-4, we painted ourselves up again and trekked to Rice Stadium. (I was the C in Rice last year and the O in Owls on Saturday, if you were wondering.) It was a bummer there was no official student tailgate because of Families' Weekend, but regardless I was impressed with the number of students in the student section. And the official attendance figure was near 20,000, which would look quite impressive if the Owls played in an appropriately-sized stadium.
As a reporter who has been covering the team all season, I am familiar with what's going on and knew the prospects going into the game. Therefore, it was fun to stand and cheer with people who didn't know so much. For instance, I explained more than once that Nick Fanuzzi was hurt and David Bailiff wasn't just switching between John Thomas Shepherd and Ryan Lewis for fun. However, my excuses were not taken well when I was standing near a Miami fan who extolled the virtues of Taylor Cook as Shepherd and Lewis went a combined 12-32 with four interceptions.
Now the defense is another story: it was great to watch them keep up with an SEC team in the first half. They were playing with passion and hitting with force. That combined with the skills of freshman Charles Ross led to an exciting halftime score of 10-10. But unfortunately, after watching and not understanding another MOB performance (something about Vanderbilt's version of NOD? I wasn't paying enough attention), the second half had to be played.
The defense started off well, but the offense wasn't spending enough time on the field and naturally, the defense quickly wore down in the hot, muggy temperatures. Can you blame them? The offense only converted three times on third down—and all of those came in the first half. They're young, I get that. They are having injury problems, I get that. (Having a QB, 2 RBs, and a lineman plus his backup out is not a winning formula.) The main thing I—and the other students, from the pleading I've heard—want to see is improvement. Let Fanuzzi play so he can duke it out with Cook next year, and let Ross develop.
We are all resigned to the fact that it's a rebuilding year combined with a tough opening schedule. We can see that the pieces are in place, but everything's not quite fitting together yet. It's not easy for anyone, including the students who are still riding high after last year's miracle. But we will still be out at the games and we will still support our Rice Owls. And I have extra body paint, so if you want to be a letter I can hook you up.
Rice Volleyball Takes Care of Business
The Rice volleyball team entered the 2009 season as Conference-USA favorites. They've had a rocky beginning, dropping matches to Oklahoma, South Carolina, and current nemesis Wichita State, in addition to withdrawing from the UTSA Classic due to a team-wide flu. Instead of folding in the face of adversity, the Owls came out strong and took the first two conference matches of the season.
On Friday night, Rice took out Memphis in three sets (25-16, 25-22, 25-23). A rested Owls squad did not have much problem with the Tigers, as seniors Jessie Boulavsky and Jenn McClean and sophomore Ashleigh McCord all recorded double-digit kills.
Rice continued conference play on this afternoon against UAB, and dispatched the Blazers in four sets (25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20). Junior setter Meredith Schamun led a strong Rice attack, recording 58 sets. Schamun has averaged 11.55 assists per set this season, and her play has confirmed her selection as the preseason C-USA co-player of the year.
The Owls came out strong this weekend and took care of business against two lesser opponents. Rice's early season losses make it imperative for them to win games against teams they're clearly better than. While the Owls certainly have a right to be happy with their weekend, they must move on quickly, as they have a big week coming up.
Rice plays at Tudor on Friday night against UTEP in the weekend's appetizer, before hosting perennial conference contender Tulane on Sunday. The Owls have had little success against Tulane in recent years, and the match will be a great barometer for Rice. We'll know alot more about this promising Owls squad next Sunday afternoon.
Listen to Sports Roundtable
For all those interested in the voices behind the Thresher's staff, check out our roundtable of Rice sports. Don't mind Natalie's laughter -- she was probably just thinking of Brody Rollins's thoughts on Milton Bradley.
A riddle named Rosa, last weekend’s victor
Bruno Rosa is an enigma, a coil of riddles ready to be unsprung and unleash his answers to the questions that have riddled and rattled him since he showed up on campus three years ago. If he was a former No. 5 in juniors, why can't he beat these unranked opponents that keep knocking him down Rice's ladder? Is he the emotional leader this team needs? Can he focus, buck his studies, and bear down on the opponents we know, they know and he knows they can beat?
Perhaps. Perhaps, if he keeps playing like he showed at last weekend's Midland Invitational.
With five wins in three days, Rosa sloughed of the comforts of his homestay -- seriously, all competitors stay at the homes of the locals -- to snatch the title away from the University of Texas's Josh Zavala. (The last time the Owls met Zavala he was busy sealing UT's third-straight win over Rice, downing Dennis Polyakov to clinch the Longhorns' 4-3 win.)
After dropping the first set 5-7, Rosa stormed back against the lesser Longhorn to take the last two frames by a score of 6-4 apiece. Rosa reached the finals after trouncing junior Oscar Podlewski -- who is quickly making a case for a top-six spot -- in the semis.
Meanwhile, Dennis Polyakov and Sam Garforth-Bles, the other two Owls who ventured to Midland, bounced after first round losses, though they teamed up to reach the quarters of the doubles swing.
On the whole, it was a relatively impressive showing for the Owls, if you look at the tournament on a results-based scenario. But there's no reason for them to see it this way. With all the talent that Rosa is bounding with, he should be finishing on top of these tournaments. He should be the best player on the squad.
And he just might. Maybe the riddle is finally solved.
Maybe.
Fanuzzi questionable for Vanderbilt
In a conversation with Coach Bailiff this morning, the head honcho said sophomore quarterback, who displayed impressive gamesmanship last week against Oklahoma State, was questionable for Saturday's game against Vanderbilt. The sophomore's shoulder, which MK reports is "a grade-1 separation," was injured during a hit against the Pokies.
If Fanuzzi can't go during his team's first home game, fifth-year John Thomas Shepherd will now have started three of the four contests. Certainly not the way the season, a measure of bumps and bruises, was expected to go. (Though you can't help but feel a slight pride in Shepherd, the long-time back-up, finally getting his time in the sun, eh?)
Volleyball Team Withdraws from UTSA Tournament
The Rice volleyball team was scheduled to travel to San Antonio this weeked to take part in the UTSA Classic, but withdraw from the tournament due to an influenza outbreak within the team. UT-San Antonio was scheduled to host the UTSA Classic, which would pit UTSA, Middle Tennessee State University, Rice, and No. 2-ranked Washington against each other. While the tournament is still scheduled to take place, the Owls will not be a part of it. Rice will open conference play next weekend at Memphis on Friday, Sept. 25th and at UAB on Sunday, Sept. 27th.
Opening tournament doesn’t prove much for men’s tennis
It's not that the men's tennis team didn't want to see wins during last weekend's Rice Fall Invitational. They're competitors. They wanted to win.
But maybe not that badly.
Having only had three official practices, Assistant Coach Efe Ustundag said the results of last week's tournament, the first of the season, was used primarily to assess where the team's skills lay, how the new players stacked up, and how the holes left by Tobias Scheil and Christoph Muller, both of whom exhausted their eligibility last spring -- and both of whom proved to be the team's most capable duo on the doubles court -- will be filled.
Ustundag wasn't terribly disappointed with the team's showing, but, as he is wont to do, the coach prodded his players to give more against the lesser competition.
"The quality of tennis wasn’t necessarily how it was going to be at the regionals, or how it was going to be in the spring. We saw some brilliance in flashes – a great set here, a great set there, and sometimes a really awful set followed by an improved set," Ustundag said. "But I can’t necessarily say, 'This guy really kicked butt throughout his entire match and he really played solid.’ There were some letdown. … It was a little bit of a stop-and-go situation."
The need for consistency is something I'd gather plagues all college tennis teams, but it is a constant theme on the squad, and has been for years. I guess there is some comfort to take from the fact that it appears to still exist.
The newcomers -- Oscar Podlewski, a junior transfer from Elon; Michael Nuesslein; a sophomore transfer from the University of South Florida; and Jonathan Chang, the team's lone new freshman, from Houston's Memorial High -- were all present for the tournament, and while they're play was, like others, rusty, Ustundag thought Chang was the biggest surprise of the weekend, beating Rice senior Dennis Polyakov on the second day of competition.
As it stacks up, the team will be as balanced as it's ever been, with six underclassmen and four upperclassmen. There's no telling where the greatest talent will lie -- obviously, Bruno Rosa will still carry the brunt of expectations, but Sam Garforth-Bles and Isamu Tachibana could be making some noise -- just as there's no telling when the doubles lineups will be finalized.
Fortuantely, the Owls will get another shot at slotting their team at this weekend's Midland Invitational, which will feature the familiar SMU faces, as well as representatives from Oklahom and Texas A&M, among others. Only a handful of Owls will attend (including Rosa and Podlewski), so the talent, it seems, will be stacked.
Of course, it will be difficult to focus on the competition when the team is crashed in the houses of the tournament's hosts. Let's hope those skillet-and-grits breakfasts, coming after a night in a posh guest room, don't distract them.
*Update: Rice took the C (freshman Chang, over transfer Podlewski) and D (Rajam) singles flights, as well as A (Tachibana/Podlewski) and B (Nusslein/Saravia) in doubles. Meanwhile, Tachibana grabbed third and Nusslein took fifth in the A flight, and Podlewski trounced Garforth-Bles for third in B flight.
For some reason, final results were not put up on RiceOwls.com. Still looking for another contributor in the SID, I suppose.
Volleyball Drops Match to Wichita State
The Owls were looking for a big victory against nationally-ranked Wichita State on Saturday night, and after taking the first set, their prospects looked good. Their play over the next three sets didn't get the job done, however, as they lost the match in four sets to the team that eliminated them from last year's NCAA Tournament.
The loss dropped the Owls record to 8-3 as they look forward to their last non-conference tournament of the year. Despite their disappointing weekend, the Owls have to focus up and get three victories against UTSA, Middle Tennessee, and Washington before opening up Conference-USA play.
The Owls will use the upcoming week of practice to recoup after an illness spread through the team. Multiple members of the team looked sick this weekend, noticeably sophomore outside hitter Ashleigh McCord. McCord didn't look herself on Friday against South Carolina, but her play was noticeably better on Saturday.
While this weekend has to be considered a disappointment, the season is still young, and the Owls can still reach all of their goals. Their conference record is still 0-0, and while they might have squandered an opportunity to gain national respect with a undefeated weekend, they still have a great chance to win Conference-USA, make the NCAA Tournament, and make a run there. The team's defense has been strong this year, and while the consistency could use some improvement, this year's volleyball team should be very strong.
Note: Co-captain Natalie Bogan was not on the court at the end of the So. Car. game due to the team's defensive rotation, which was an unfortunate. I would've liked to see Bogan out there during the most important moments of the match, but sometimes things just don't go your way.
Volleyball Loses to South Carolina
The Rice volleyball lost to undefeated South Carolina in five sets at Tudor Fieldhouse last night. The Owls took set one, dropped set two, and took set three before dropping sets four and five to the Gamecocks. Some quick observations about what transpired:
1. The Owls gave USC this match on a silver platter. The Owls looked dominant in sets one and three, and probably should have taken the second set as well. They dropped set four when they had a prime opportunity to close out the match. In set five, USC took control late to erase an early Rice advantage and win the match.
2. Sloppy play dominated the match. Both teams played strong defense, but alot of sloppy and clumsy sequences seemed to occur throughout the five sets.
3. Something seems to be the matter with Ashleigh McCord. She looked ill during the match, and her game on the whole appears to be a bit off. She was looked frustrated with her play at times and didn't look like the McCord that was the C-USA Freshman of the Year last year.
4. I'm not the most knowledgeable person about the intricate rules of volleyball, so there might be a perfectly reasonable explanation for what I'm about to mention, but I was wondering why senior co-captain and 3-time All-C-USA player Natalie Bogan was not on the court during the decisive moments of the fifth set. Bogan had 20 kills and a match-high .432 hitting percentage.
The match was entertaining throughout, but the end result had to be disappointing for the Owls. Rice beat Harvard this afternoon in three sets, and will face off against nationally ranked Wichita State in a revenge match. Play begins at 7 PM at Tudor tonight.
Edit: McCord seemed to be her old self vs Harvard: 19 kills, .405 hitting percentage.
Women’s Soccer shows what they are made of
Last night's loss against OSU showed us several important things about the soccer squad that the 1-4-1 record simply cannot represent. To lighten the mood from the disappointing loss, we will start with the good.
Though there were no goals scored by the Owls, there certainly was an impressive offensive effort. For a time int he first half, Rice actually led in shots. The opportunities were, in large part, due to the meticulous play of senior Erin Scott. Her piercing runs around the formidable OSU backline continued to put the cowgirls on their toes and the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Most importantly, though, the squad did not seem to play with three separate units; team defense was stressed throughout practice this week and it showed. Aside from some early hiccups, the help came from around the field. If I didn't know any better, I would say that someone on the team grew tired of Meghan Erkel getting all the attention (she had a record-setting 16 SAVES LAST GAME!) and forced her to make only five stops.
But for the strong defense that they played in the field of play, it was clear from the first minutes of the game that set pieces would be the most dangerous part of OSU's game. The cowgirls played perfect crosses on corner kicks and free kicks all night, and it was, statistically, just a matter of time for one to go in. As soon as the Owls' attack picked up the race started and the winner took the game: Will the home team hammer one through first or will the technically skilled OSU side sail a free kick passed Erkel?
The latter won, and another strong opponent narrowly escaped Rice Track/Soccer Stadium with a win. Seemingly every time the team improves on one weakness, a new one is exposed. So assuming Huston has Craig Waibel launch free kick after free kick into the box for the rest of the week, what will be the next point the team has to work on? I would guess the midfield.
To take the final step and beat one of the numerous ranked opponents still coming into Houston, the midfield is going to have to work on possession and controlling the tempo of the game. The Owls are going to have to see the Hope Ward from last year, making runs down the line and firing crosses into the box. Shelley Wong is also going to have to show she deserves the armband if the Owls are going to be able to step up their game.
Nevertheless, you have to wonder, after playing TCU, Baylor, OSU, and Marquette, is conference play going to seem that much easier? Though the focus of the year has been avoiding must-wins in the conference tournament for an at-large NCAA bid, maybe this year will be just the opposite. I know that Coach Bailiff is hoping SMU won't be a problem after Tech tonight, but I'd say Coach Huston should be a little more happy with her odds at conference wins.