HOUSTON, Texas -- Olaya Pazo had a match-high 24 kills, including the game winner at 14-13 in the fifth and final game, to give host Rice a 3-2 (30-23, 26-30, 30-18, 23-30, 15-13) victory over Sacramento State in the second and final round of the Crowne Plaza Volleyball Invitational Saturday evening at Autry Court.The loss was the fifth straight for the Hornets (1-5), the longest losing streak for Sacramento State since the 1991 squad (first year of Div. I play) dropped seven in a row. After defeating Long Island to open the season, the Hornets have lost to 18th-ranked San Diego, 24th-ranked Long Beach State, Santa Clara (who is receiving votes in the top 25), Duke and Rice. The Hornets will look to break their losing streak tomorrow (Sunday, Sept. 4) as they conclude their Houston swing with a dual match at the University of Houston.
Rice (4-0) finished the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record as Pazo was named tournament MVP. Sacramento State sophomore Lindsay Haupt, who combined for 18 kills and seven blocks over two matches, received all-tournament honors.
After Sacramento State forced a fifth game by winning the fourth frame, 30-23, the Hornets jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead in the fifth game. However, Rice responded with a 5-1 run, taking advantage of three Sacramento State attack errors during the run. The Hornets were able to tie the game at 7-7 and 8-8, but never could reclaim the lead the rest of the way. After a kill from Shannon Roland cut the Rice lead to 14-13, Pazo responded with the match-winning kill to give Rice the 15-13 victory.
Rice led the Hornets in virtually every statistical category, including kills (72-55), hitting percentage (.128-.095), service aces (8-3) and digs (116-107). Sacramento State did have 12.5 team blocks, including five each from Haupt and sophomore Michelle Franz, and four each from freshman Rose Burke and senior Shannon Arts.
Rice played just seven players during the match as six of those players recorded double figures in digs, including 29 from Kristina Dennemann and 26 from Yvette Kirk. Pazo’s 24 kills accompanied a .213 hitting percentage (24-11-61) and 19 digs.
For the second-consecutive match and third time this year, Roland led the Hornets in kills with 17 while Arts chipped in 12. Junior Kristin Lutes, who leads the team with 4.88 digs per game, had 33 digs in the match, the ninth-highest total in Sacramento State Div. I single-match history. Junior Atlee Hubbard chipped in six kills and 22 digs while Mallory Hook had 16 digs and Jennifer Ferguson tallied 13 digs.
The Hornets’ hitting woes continued as the team has yet to hit above .192 in any match this season and tonight’s .095 percentage was a season low.
