Spring 2009 Rice Volleyball Owls Once Again Play in the NCAA Tournament Morgan and Schamun Named AVCA All-America Honorable Mention Rice University volleyball players Karyn Morgan and Meredith Schamun have been honored by being selected to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Div. I Honorable Mention All-America. It is the first time in school history that two players have earned AVCA honorable mention status in the same season. Morgan, a senior outside hitter from Bellaire, Texas, led the Owls in 2008 in total kills (381) and kills per set (3.50). She also was second on the team in digs with 331. Morgan concluded her career at Rice with 1,372 kills which ranks fifth all-time at Rice and she also had Second NCAA Appearance Since 2004 For the second time in school history and the first time since 2004, the Rice Owls volleyball has earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Volleyball Championship. Rice was slotted in the Austin, Texas Regional vs. Wichita State. The Shockers of Wichita State were 29-1 overall heading into NCAA play and were undefeated until the semi-finals of the Missouri Valley Conference championship when they lost 3-2 to Missouri State. This is something that we have always strived for and we knew that we had it in us, said Rice head coach Genny Volpe. I am glad to see that Conference USA earned so much respect and it is a testament to the strength of C-USA volleyball. Also earning NCAA bids from C-USA were Tulane (automatic) and UAB (at-large). The Owls hopes for its first-ever NCAA victory were vanquished as the 13th-ranked Shockers handed them a 3-1 loss (21-25, 23-25, 15-25, 20-25). In their last year as a member of the Western Athletic Conference in 2004, the Owls posted a 25-4 overall season record and earned the school s first-ever appearance in the NCAA championship. Rice was defeated by Michigan in Austin, Texas, 3-1. This experience is huge because the younger players have a taste of what it s like to go to post-season, stated Rice head coach Genny Volpe. This is big for the team in that they see that we can compete at this level. The experience, rather than the idea, is huge. We re establishing ourselves as a program that expects to be in the NCAA championship. 1,242 digs which is fourth-best in school history. She is only the sixth Owl ever to have over 1,000+ kills and 1,000+ digs. Morgan was also selected to the 2008 All- C-USA first team. Schamun, a sophomore setter from Murrieta, Calif., led C-USA with an 11.58 assist average, which ranks 10th in the nation. Her 1,308 assists is tied for ninth-best in a season at Rice. Schamun s two-year assist total of 2,614 ranks ranks sixth all-time at Rice. Schamun was also selected to the 2008 All-Conference USA first team. Meredith Schamun led C-USA in assists in 2008.
From the Desk of Coach Volpe There are so many positives to tell you about this spring! The team is working hard at getting stronger, faster, more powerful and competing for that C-USA Championship. I believe strongly that the spring and summer is where the work begins towards a championship season and our team is more determined than ever to prove that Rice belongs at the top of C-USA and amongst the nation s best. Our strength and conditioning coach, Kristi Lobpries, has the girls pushing themselves harder than ever and the results are undeniable. We have added a transfer player to our roster from Villanova University, Laurie McNamara. She is adapting well to Rice and our program and we are happy she has joined our team. We also have a new assistant coach on staff, Russell Brock. Many of you will recognize Russell as he has been working with our program for the past three seasons as our volunteer coach. We are happy he is able to now work with us full time. Welcome Russell! We had a wonderful banquet in January to celebrate 2008 which concluded with a wonderful highlight video created by our own Victor Mendoza. To him we say Thank you! Included in this newsletter is a recap of our banquet, our spring competition results, interviews from Owls that attended the National Team Tryout, and more. Enjoy the newsletter and once again, thank you for your support of Rice Volleyball. See you in Tudor Fieldhouse this fall. Go Owls! Genny Volpe Owls Clean Up at Conference USA Awards Volple Named C-USA Coach of the Year The Owls accounted for a league-high six All-Conference USA honors, including three first team selections, two second-team honorees, and one All-Freshman pick. Furthermore, sophomore Tracey Lam was named as the Libéro of the Year as well as All-C-USA second team. The 5-6 libéro earned a league-best four Defensive Player of the Week honors. Volpe earns her first C-USA Coach of the Year honor after guiding the Owls to a No.3 seed in the C-USA Championship. Volpe s club produced an overall record of 21-6 and went 12-4 in league play. The 12 conference victories are the most under Volpe. First team accolades went to Rice senior Karyn Morgan, junior Natalie Bogan and sophomore Meredith Schamun. Repeating her All-C-USA second team honor from a year ago is Rice senior Jessica Holderness. Freshman Ashleigh McCord was named to the All-Freshman team. Karyn Morgan was the Owls 2008 MVP and most improved.
Brock New Owl Assistant Coach Rice University head volleyball coach Genny Volpe has announced the hiring of Russell Brock as assistant volleyball coach. Brock has spent the past three seasons as a volunteer assistant at Rice while serving as athletics director for Baytown Christian Academy in Baytown, Texas. Russell s experience as a player both at USC and on the outdoor circuit complemented with his competitive and energetic personality is truly going to benefit our program both in the gym and in recruiting, says Volpe. His tenure as an athletic director is also going to be very beneficial because he understands all the work that needs to be done behind the scenes to run a successful program. Brock, an avid volleyball player who still competes, is starting his first collegiate coaching job. I ve had a lot of opportunities to coach volleyball, but this is my first chance to work on a college campus, says Brock. I did not know what to expect, but I can honestly say that the first few weeks has surpassed my expectations. I have genuinely enjoyed meeting the other coaches and athletic department staff. A four-year letterman at Southern California, Brock ended his collegiate career as the Trojans all-time dig leader with 956, a record he held for 10 years. He also set an NCAA record by posting double-figure digs in 45 matches during his career. He graduated from USC in 1996 with a B.S. degree in exercise science. Since his collegiate career ended, Brock has remained as an active participant on the national volleyball scene, both indoors and outdoors. He plays at the indoor open division nationals every year and holds an outdoor open rating. A native of the Texas Gulf Coast, Brock spent the past 11 years at Baytown Christian Academy, where he has served as the athletics director, operations manager and coach of multiple sports, in addition to teaching duties. He helped guide the volleyball team to four Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools state titles. Brock also served stints as the boys soccer and boys basketball coach. Brock was born and raised in Baytown, Texas, and is a 1991 graduate of Lee High School. Russell and his wife, Kristi, have two daughters, Brooklynn (8) and Kaelynn (6), and a son, Kory (3). During spring workouts, Brock believes that this upcoming Rice squad can be one of the school s best. It was such a joy to see them competing as a group and to see them working hard together to accomplish the goals set before them, comments the first year assistant. There is no doubt that this group will never quit and will never back down from a challenge. That is a really reassuring quality from the coaches side of things. It is evident that the past success has not led to complacency. It has actually fueled their fire and desire to achieve greatness. So many of the girls have already improved drastically over the spring.
McCord Selected to the U.S. Volleyball National A2 Team Rice University volleyball player Ashleigh McCord (Wylie, Texas) has been selected to the US Women s National A2 Team. McCord, a freshman, is one of 10 outside hitters chosen to the roster. The squad features 24 total players. The 2009 U.S. Women s National A2 program is scheduled to train May 18-22 in Minneapolis before being split into two 12-player rosters to compete in the Open Division of the 2009 USA Adult Open Championships. The Open Division flight takes place May 23-26 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The 2009 U.S. Women s National A2 Team includes four setters, 10 outside/opposite hitters, six middles and four liberos. The 24 players come from 19 different collegiate programs. The players were selected as part of the U.S. Women s National Team Open Tryouts held Feb. 20-22 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. A record total of 160 athletes competed in the Open Tryout. During the 2008 season, McCord was named to the Conference USA All-Newcomer Team after leading all C-USA freshmen with 305 kills and a.282 attack percentage. She helped the Owls to a 23-8 overall record last season, including a 12-4 mark in Conference USA action. McCord, who played in 110 of 113 Owl sets as a freshman, averaged 3.03 points, 2.77 kills and 0.45 blocks per set. Kansas State s head coach Suzie Fritz and Arizona State s head coach Jason Watson will serve as head coaches for the program, while Pacific assistant coach Aven Lee and Minnesota associate head coach Scott Swanson will serve as assistants. McCord Comments What made you want to go How was the experience? and tryout for the National team? I think it is a great opportunity and it would be amazing to play as one ofthe top players in the nation. I would learn so much by not only playing and competing against great players,but Iwould also be under the coaching of some of the nation s top coaches. It was a great experience. I was able to compete against the nation s top players and learn from great coaches. I enjoyed the intense compettition between all of the girls. What did you learn from this tryout? I learned new aspects of play that I can add to my game. It will help in my everyday play. I feel as though I played well. I played my hardest. How did this experience impact you and the Rice volleyball team? It helped inspire me to play harder and to always be competitive, which will in turn rub off on our team.
Four Owls at National Team Camp Bogan, Schamun, Lam, and McCord represent Rice Volleyball at the U.S. Women s National Team Tryout in Colorado Springs, Colo. They discusses their experiences in their own words. Natalie Bogan What made you want to go and tryout for the National team? I wanted to try out for the National team for the experience and to see how I compared to other girls in my position outside of Conference USA. How was the experience? Everyone at the tryout was talented but those who did the best were consistently good and that s what makes the difference. The only way to be consistently good is to practice and work on the weaker areas of your game. What did you learn from this tryout? I learned that there is always room for improvement and that the most important thing is to always give 100 percent. What did you learn from this tryout? Compared to the other middle blockers I was much smaller but I was faster. I realized that I had different strengths than the other middles there and that there were also some areas that I could learn from other middles. Meredith Schamun. Natalie Bogan. How did this experience impact you and the Rice volleyball team? This experience gave me more confidence in my own talents. I think that we all know now the level that we are capable of playing at and we should incorporate that in our volleyball seasons in the future. Meredith Schamun What made you want to go and tryout for the National team? I felt blessed that Genny wanted to send us to the tryout. I felt it would be, if nothing else, a great experience to play against some of the best players in the country. We live so much in solely Rice volleyball that is was awesome to get to see other competition and compete with great players from across the country. I wanted the chance to compete and compare myself to some of the bests. How was the experience? It was humbling. Some of the best attributes of my game and some of the worst attributes of my game were brought to my attention. I was able to compare myself with other players and see what I need to work on to get better. I had a lot of fun and was able to compete and perform knowing that I could just play the game and have fun. What did you learn from this tryout? I learned that my defense needs to get better! I was trying to dig some of the best outsides and middles in the country and I was challenged! I need to pick up my game in some specific areas. I also learned that at this college level, it isn t about being able to
bang the ball or pass nails, it s about being able to do all the those things consistently and aggressively. Consistency is the key to this level. I think I played well. I competed and I enjoyed playing against great players because it makes me play better. Also, when you play with the same players for a long time you get accustomed to playing one way and it can be hard to challenge yourself against people you know. It was fun to play against players I don t know and want to compete against because it brought my level fo play up and I need to challenge myself to do that constantly. How did this experience impact you and the Rice volleyball team? I think it was good to see where we can go. A lot of the players at the tryout were players you would expect to be there like Cal, Stanford, Texas, and etc. We ve all heard about these teams that are the best in the country. Not many people knew about Rice volleyball and it was good to get our name out there and for us to see that we are right there. We can play and we can compete with these players and this level of play and feel like we belong there. Rice is making a name for itself in NCAA volleyball and it was nice to see us being noticed by the big timers! Tracey Lam What made you want to go and tryout for the National team? I went for the experience. Rice and Conference USA are both relatively small, and given the opportunity to see and compete within USA Volleyball, I could not refuse. How was the experience? The tryout was a great experience because it was a chance for all of us to compare ourselves to some of the best players in the country. Although I was more intimidated than excited for the tryout on the trip over, it turned out to be fun. The opportunity to play alongside and against some of the best players in the country doesn t present itself very often, and when it does come, it s just hard not to enjoy yourself. What did you learn from this tryout? It was eye-opening.the difference between good players and great players is not in skill but in consistency of skill, and this really stood out at the tryout. It was a lot of volleyball, but the experience was well worth it, because it was fascinating to see how many different ways good volleyball can be played. Tracey Lam. In this type of situation, where you re competing against people who play just as well as and better than you do, it s hard to judge how well you are playing without achieving perfection, but overall I could have played more consistently. I am happy, though, in the fact that I learned from being at the tryout and that I have become a better player because of it. How did this experience impact you and the Rice volleyball team? I am more excited than ever to improve and compete, and I think being there really sparked something in the other girls who went as well. It is easy to say that you want to improve, but it can be difficult to see what improvement looks like without a concrete example at hand. Being at this tryout, for me, provided plenty of people to aspire towards. Spring can also get a little frustrating because of the lack of payoff for all the hard work. In the fall, our effort is rewarded by success in competition, but in the spring, with three solid competition-less months, things can get a little repetitive. The excitement for volleyball that we are coming back with from the tryout is definitely going to help ignite excitement within the team.