2012 VOLLEYBALL NOTES 2009 C-USA Tournament Champions • 2004, 2008, 2009 NCAA Tournament Participants Volleyball Media Relations Contact: David Waxman • Office: (713) 348-8874 • Cell: (832) 326-2863 • E-Mail: [email protected] Rice Invitational I • Tudor Fieldhouse (5,750) • , 2012 Schedule/Results (0-0) (0-0, 0-0 C-USA) vs. Date Opponent Time/Result Rice Invitational I (Tudor Fieldhouse) Aug. 24 Arkanas State vs. BYU 4:30 p.m. Aug. 24 vs. Air Force 7 p.m. Aug. 25 BYU vs. Air Force 10 a.m. Aug. 25 vs. Arkansas State 12:30 p.m. Air Force Arkansas State BYU Aug. 25 Air Force vs. Arkansas St. 4:30 p.m. Aug. 25 vs. BYU 7 p.m. Falcons Red Wolves Cougars Aug. 28 at UTSA 6:30 p.m. Aug. 24, 2012 • 7 p.m. Aug. 25, 2012 • 12:30 p.m. Aug. 25, 2012 • 7 p.m. Tiger Classic (Baton Rouge, La.) Record: 0-0, 0-0 MWC Record: 0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt Record: 0-0, 0-0 WCC Aug. 31 at LSU 10 a.m. Series: Rice leads 4-0 Series: ASU leads 1-0 Series: BYU leads 4-0 Aug. 31 vs. Purdue 5 p.m. Last Mtg: 11/6/98 (W, 3-0) Last Mtg: 9/17/10 (L, 2-3) Last Mtg: 9/13/03 (L, 1-3) Sept. 1 vs. Washington 11 a.m. Rice Starts 2012 Season With Rice Invitational I Sept. 4 vs. Sam Houston State 7 p.m. The Owls start the 2012 campaign by hosting the Rice Invitational. The Magnolia Invitational (Oxford, Miss.) Owls return six starters from a squad that finished second in C-USA in 2011 Sept. 7 vs. North Dakota 10 a.m. and posted its fourth consecutive winning season. Rice faces two 21-win Sept. 7 at Ole Miss 7 p.m. Sept. 8 vs. Alabama A&M 10:30 a.m. teams from 2011 on Saturday, hosting Arkansas State (21-10 in 2011) and Rice Invitational II (Tudor Fieldhouse) BYU (21-9 in 2011). Rice is led by preseason All-C-USA picks Nancy Cole Sept. 14 vs. Cal State Northridge 11 a.m. and Megan Murphy. Sept. 14 Texas Tech vs. HBU 2 p.m. Sept. 14 vs. Houston Baptist 7 p.m. Cole and Murphy Named Preseason All-C-USA Sept. 15 CSUN vs. Texas Tech 11 a.m. Senior middle blocker Nancy Cole and junior setter Megan Murphy were Sept. 15 HBU vs. Cal St. Northridge 4:30 p.m. named to the Preseason All-Conference USA Volleyball Team. Cole makes Sept. 15 vs. Texas Tech 7 p.m. her second consecutive appearance on the Preseason All-C-USA team. Cole Sept. 18 vs. Houston * 7 p.m. is a two-time postseason All-C-USA selection, and was named an All-Amer- Sept. 21 at Memphis * 7 p.m. Sept. 23 at UAB * 1 p.m. ican by the AVCA last season. Murphy makes her first appearance on the Sept. 28 vs. SMU * 7 p.m. Preseason All-Conference USA. She was named postseason All-C-USA and Sept. 30 vs. Tulsa * 1 p.m. an AVCA All-American in 2011. Oct. 5 vs. UTEP * 7 p.m. Oct. 7 vs. Tulane * 1 p.m. Rice Picked To Finish Second In C-USA Oct. 12 at Marshall * 4:30 p.m. Rice was voted to finish second in C-USA by the league’s coaches in the Oct. 14 vs. East Carolina * 1 p.m. preseason poll. Tulsa was tabbed as the league’s favorite, after winning two Oct. 19 at Tulane * 7 p.m. straight conference championships. The Owls totaled 119 points in the poll, Oct. 21 at UTEP * 1 p.m. six points ahead of third placed UCF. Rice finished second in Conference Oct. 26 at Houston * 5 p.m. Nov. 2 vs. Southern Miss * 7 p.m. USA in 2011, its highest finish in the C-USA regular season. The Owls return Nov. 4 vs. UCF * 1 p.m. six starters from last year’s squad which went 18-13, good for the program’s Nov. 9 at Tulsa * 7 p.m. fourth straight .500-or-better season. Nov. 11 at SMU * 1 p.m. Nov. 16-18 C-USA Championship TBA Rice In The Rice Invitational At least one Rice Invitational has been played since 2005, and Rice is 19-13 in its home tournament in that span. Rice is on a three-match winning streak in the Rice Invitational, beating Houston Baptist, UTSA and Georgia Tech in the Rice Invitational II on Sept. 2-3, 2011. Nancy Cole was named MVP of Rice Invitational II in 2011, while Megan Murphy was named All-Tourna- ment. Jillian Humphrey was All-Tournament in Rice Invitational I. It’s A Hit! Rice’s Match Record When… Rice ranked second in Conference USA in hitting percentage in 2011, only behind C-USA Overall...... 0-0 Champion Tulsa. The Owls ranked 48th in the nation in hitting percentage. Nancy Cole hit Home...... 0-0 .335 in 2011, which ranked fourth in the league and 71st in the nation. Road...... 0-0 Neutral...... 0-0 Leading after one set...... 0-0 Season Openers Trailing after one set...... 0-0 Rice is 17-15 in season openers all-time, and has won three of its last four curtain-raisers. Leading after two sets...... 0-0 Rice fell in five sets to Delaware to open last season in Tudor Fieldhouse. Rice is 60-47 in Trailing after two sets...... 0-0 sets during season openers. The opener against Air Force this season is the first time Rice Tied after two sets...... 0-0 has opened its season against a team from the Mountain Time Zone. Three set matches...... 0-0 Four set matches...... 0-0 Home Openers Five set matches...... 0-0 Rice is 23-9 in home openers, and is 10-2 since 2000 in home openers. Rice has won 73 sets Morning (11:59 a.m. or earlier) ...... 0-0 in home openers, and has only dropped 30 sets. Rice has opened the season at home in every Afternoon (12 p.m.-4:59 p.m.)...... 0-0 year since 2007. Night (5 p.m. or later)...... 0-0 Doubleheaders...... 0-0 All Out Of WAC Top 25...... 0-0 Rice plays two former rivals from the Western Athletic Conference in the Rice Inivtational Power-Six Leagues...... 0-0 I, facing off against Air Force for the first time since the two schools met as members of In Texas...... 0-0 the WAC in 1998. This is only the second time that BYU and Rice have played since both Against Texas Schools...... 0-0 schools were in the WAC, having met most recently in 2003. Due to the 16-team WAC scheduling system, BYU and Rice only met during the 1996 season, playing a home-and- Rice’s Set Record When… home. None of the three schools remained in the WAC, with Air Force and BYU (currently Overall...... 0-0 a member of the West Coast Conference) leaving for the Mountain West in 1999, and Rice Home...... 0-0 leaving for C-USA in 2005. On Monday, the Western Athletic Conference announced it Road...... 0-0 would not be sponsoring football for the 2013 season. Neutral...... 0-0 First Set...... 0-0 Connections Second Set...... 0-0 Rice libero/defensive specialist Daniela Arenas and Arkansas State middle blocker Ashley Third Set ...... 0-0 Tipps played together at Cy-Woods High School in Cypress … Six of Air Force’s athletes Fourth Set...... 0-0 hail from Texas … Arenas played club volleyball on Texas Tornados with Air Force’s Maiya Fifth Set...... 0-0 Perich When leading in sets...... 0-0 Rice’s Honors When trailing in sets...... 0-0 Nancy Cole When tied in sets...... 0-0 2012 Preseason All-C-USA Close-out sets...... 0-0 Megan Murphy Elimination sets...... 0-0 2012 Preseason All-C-USA Two-point sets...... 0-0

Other Longest Set (by total points) None Biggest Margin of Victory (set) None Biggest Margin of Defeat (set) None Longest Match Win Streak None Longest Set Win Streak None The Last Time… A Rice player had 20+ kills 20, Mariah Riddlespringer, Nov. 23, 2011 at Houston A Rice player had 30+ digs A Rice player had 50+ assists 35, Megan White, Sep. 3, 2011 vs. Georgia Tech 61, Megan Murphy, Nov. 23, 2011 at Houston Rice came back to win down 2-0 A Rice player had 10+ blocks Nov. 27, 2010 vs. Houston 10, Jillian Humphrey, Oct. 30, 2011 at UCF