Rice Owls - The Road to Marshall and ECU

HOUSTON, TEXAS (October 9, 2008) The Rice Owls volleyball team (11-4, 2-2) is on the road this weekend for two Conference USA matches. Rice plays at Marshall (8-7, 1-4) on Friday at 6 p.m. (Central) and at East Carolina (11-9, 1-4) on Sunday at 11a.m. (Central).

Recently
Rice last weekend defeated SMU 3-0 and lost a five-set thriller to Tulsa. This past Tuesday, the Owls whipped McNeese State 3-0.

Head Coach
Rice head coach Genny Volpe sports a school and overall coaching mark of 78-57 (5 years). She led the Owls to their first-ever NCAA appearance in 2004.

National Ranks
Rice setter Meredith Schamun ranks sixth in the nation in assists per set in this week's NCAA rankings. The sophomore from Murrieta, Calif., averages a C-USA-best 11.71 assists per set.

Sophomore libéro Tracey Lam ranks 13th in the nation in digs per set, accounting for a C-USA-best 5.18 per outing. She has reached double-digits in digs in 24 straight matches.

As a team, Rice ranks third in the NCAA in assists (13.69), sixth in digs (17.53), seventh in kills (14.49) and 41st in hitting efficiency (.249).

100 Owls
Four Rice Owls have accumulated 100 or more kills. Senior Karyn Morgan leads at 174, while Jessica Holderness follows at 151 and Natalie Bogan is at 145. Freshman Ashleigh McCord has pounded 127 kills.

Attack Pct.
Natalie Bogan leads Rice with a .348 attack percentage (145-33-322) and sophomore Caroline Gill is at .343 (71-11-175).

Opponents
Rice is 0-3 vs. Marshall in the series and is 1-3 all-time vs. East Carolina.

Looking Forward
The Owls host Southern Miss on Friday (Oct. 17) at 7 p.m. and UCF on Saturday (Oct. 18) at 7 p.m.