No. 20 Rice Claims First-Round Win over Colorado, 3-1

Thu Dec 1 20:21:39 CST 2022

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – Dec. 1, 2022

No. 20 Rice Claims First-Round Win over Colorado, 3-1
Sahara Maruska goes for match-high 22 kills

VIDEO: Post-Match Press Conferences<https://baylor.box.com/s/2gznb2yl7zxfqthviqiggxozpled896g>

For more information contact: Brent Ingram; 210-845-8651, brent_ingram at baylor.edu<mailto:brent_ingram at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas -- Junior Sahara Maruska had 22 kills and fifth-year senior Carly Graham chipped in 49 assist and 17 digs, leading No. 20 Rice to a 3-1 win (26-24, 24-26, 25-15, 25-14) over Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament, on Thursday night at Baylor’s Ferrell Center.

Rice (27-3) advances to the second round of the Waco Sub-Regional and will now face the winner of No. 17 Baylor (23-6) and Stephen F. Austin (26-4) on Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. The winner of the Waco Sub-Regional will advance to compete against the winner of the Louisville Sub-Regional.

The Owls battled the Buffalos in a hard-fought first and second set, claiming the first, 26-24 before falling 26-24 in the second set to even it up. Rice, the Conference USA Champion, extended its winning streak to five matches with dominating results in the third and fourth sets.

Maruska had a match-best 22 kills with six digs, hitting .309. Ellie Bichelmeyer had 17 kills and five digs, while Danyle Courtley finished with 12 digs. Graham, the three-time C-USA Setter of the Year, had 49 assists, 17 digs and two kills.

Colorado (20-10) hit .114 in the match and totaled nine blocks. The Buffs had 20 kills from graduate student Lexi Hadrych, a native of Murrieta, Calif., and a transfer from UCLA. Maya Tabron had 17 digs and nine kills.

Post-Match Quotes

Rice Head Coach Genny Volpe

Opening Statement…

“I’m just really proud of this team. Colorado is a tough opponent. We had a great season, and we knew that they were going to present some challenges. And I am really proud of how the team stepped up and fought through some adversity, especially in sets one and two. I’m just really proud of how they found way to execute when we needed to execute and I am happy with the win.”

On Colorado’s fight and defense…

“In this match in particular, we just had more balance. We had multiple players involved in the offense executing at a high level. We ended up paying .247, which is a little bit lower than our average. But we had more people just stepping up to kill the ball and our defense held Colorado to a .114 hitting percentage, so in general our defense really anchored us the entire match. I thought Carly did an excellent job in getting everyone involved and when we were struggling in one position, another position stepped up, so that’s been our ammo all season and we knew it would help us in this type of situation.”

On looking forward to facing SFA or Baylor…

“Well, it helps when you plan accordingly with what you’ve seen before, but we don't know exactly know who is going to win this match. So we are definitely going to scout and we're gonna watch both teams.We have a lot of respect for both programs. Debbie [Humphreys] has done a great job with SFA she’s got an excellent team and Ryan [McGuyre] obviously has a great team himself. So I think it's gonna be a great match. And we'll be prepared for whoever we play. It's really about us executing on our side of the net, and we have a lot of competence in our abilities if we execute our style of play.”

Rice Setter Carly Graham

On Colorado’s defense…

“I think our coaches gave us a great scout that we were prepared for. Something we talked about is the back court working extremely hard for the front court and the front court working extremely hard for the back court, to instill confidence and get everybody going. I thought our defensive effort was outstanding and we were truly fighting every single ball.”

Rice Outside Hitter Sahara Maruska

On Coach Volpe’s defensive scheme…

“I do, I think coming into this season, we’re really strong in defense, but obviously like there is always room for improvement. So that’s something that we were really trying to hone in on is our defense and how fast we can get to the ball.”

Colorado Head Coach Jesse Mahoney

Opening Statement...

“First of all, we’re excited that we got the opportunity to make it to this event and we’ve been treated really well since we have been here. Rice is really good. Kudos to them for playing a hell of a match. I felt like the first two sets were really competitive and could have gone either way, but the third and into the fourth, they just wore us out defensively. So the loss is frustrating, but we have a special group this year and they’ve been through a lot. I’m proud of them for the season that they’ve had. We lose seven players, and those seven players meant a lot to our program.”

On Rice’s if part of the Pac 12…

“I think [their play fits] pretty well. We finished fifth in the Pac 12. We're playing USC, UCLA and Washington in a pretty good league and pretty deep league. So obviously, they pass well, they have a really nice system that they run and they have a setter that can do it.”

On returning to the NCAA Tournament…

“Our season was a grind every match. Every match of ours was competitive in our league. Making it to this point, we had to win four of our last five games or whatever it was to get here, and it says a lot. The experience of being here and so many of our players have an opportunity to come back next season. Hopefully this experience will help.”

Colorado Setter/Libero Brynna DeLuzio

Thoughts on the match and season…

“Just like [Coach Mahoney] was just saying, I'm just proud of what we've done given last couple of years. We kind of have this goal of being back in the tournament, and I think we've done everything in our power to get here so you know, one loss or one game doesn't define us. I think that this season was so special for this group of girls.”

On an impression for the returning players next year…

“Well, the younger players got to experience an NCAA tournament, which is kind of the best experience I think you get at that age and just see the grind that it takes to get here. The relationships that we've been able to form, and it really is a special group of girls, having seen this type of chemistry that we've had in a while so just going out just leaving an imprint of forever friends.”

Colorado Middle Blocker Meegan Hart

On what changed after the second set…

“They’re a great team. Defensively, they stepped up in order to get some big swings and it can get frustrating when you know you're not scoring and you just keep trying to score and score. I think defensively, it's just the speed.”

On an impression for the returning players next year…

“I’d say just not letting like past seasons define you. I think this year, whatever's happened in the past doesn't have to repeat this year. So I think that when I said just how close we are, and you know cherish every moment these friendships last a lifetime, and just hold on to that. You're not going to remember 20 years from now that one hit you hit out or whatever it was, just remember the good moments and the big wins.”

- BaylorBears.com -

--
Brent Ingram | Assistant AD for Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 210-845-8651

[signature_1049805336]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20221202/b0c04f2a/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 20339 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20221202/b0c04f2a/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Rice-Colorado book 120122.PDF
Type: application/pdf
Size: 708521 bytes
Desc: Rice-Colorado book 120122.PDF
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20221202/b0c04f2a/attachment-0003.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: RICE_R1_Postgame.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 254214 bytes
Desc: RICE_R1_Postgame.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20221202/b0c04f2a/attachment-0004.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: COLORADO_R1_Postgame.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 141687 bytes
Desc: COLORADO_R1_Postgame.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20221202/b0c04f2a/attachment-0005.pdf>