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Rice Volleyball: Owls’ soar to new heights in 2019 season

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Rice Volleyball soared to new heights in 2019, establishing themselves as a bonafide contender in the sport at the national level.

The 2019 Rice volleyball season was among the most memorable campaigns in school history. Program first’s were littered throughout the year. Rice earned its first Top 25 ranking in school history. They knocked off No. 3 Texas at Tudor Fieldhouse. They won their first-ever NCAA Tournament match. It’s hard to put such an incredible run into words. One video will have to suffice:

Yes someone with crutches is jumping for joy. Pure elation personified in 20 seconds of fervor.

“It was definitely a season that I’m not going to forget and I’m sure the players on the team won’t either, especially the seniors,” recalls head coach Genny Volpe, the winningest coach in school history. Rice has been a perennial power under Volpe’s direction, but the Owls took their success up a notch in 2019.

Rice has lost fewer than 10 matches six times in Volpe’s tenure, an impressive feat considering seasons average roughly 30 matches. The 27-4 record was Volpe’s best yet. 20 of their 27 wins were three-game sweeps. Of their four losses, three of them came down to the final game.

None of it surprised Volpe, who saw the focus in her team from the start. “When I saw that preparation, the expectation was to do a lot of things that we did.”

Expectation is one thing. Turning that into reality is a process that turns hope into the things of legend.

“To finally put our stamp on a couple of signatures wins [was huge]. We’ve been close so many times,” she said. “This year we were consistent in our execution, our practice, our approach to all the little things that matter.”

On some level, the 2019 season and win over Texas marked the arrival of the zenith of a decades-long journey for the Rice volleyball program. The Owls had been a local power, but things feel slightly different now. The top programs in the state and around the country must look at Rice as an athletic peer. For a university that boasts an alumni base smaller than the on campus population of other state schools, that distinction carries a weighty significance.

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Rice Baseball: Adding talent to a strong culture the key for 2021

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Rice baseball needs an infusion of talent. Combing a new recruiting class with better production from the existing roster gives hope for the Owls next season.

Weeks removed from an abbreviated season, Rice baseball is getting back to work. Head coach Matt Bragga and his staff are working the phones as best they can, trying to turn this difficult situation into growth on the recruiting front.

As things stand now the staff is excited about the next wave of Owls set to be on campus for the 2021 season. Normally there would be a real level of concern regarding an upcoming signing class arriving on campus. With the truncated MLB Draft structure, the odds of the Owls’ getting all of their guys to South Main should (theoretically) increase.

Current commit William Burbank is graded as a potential Top 10 round pick by Perfect Game. Several others can hit the 90s with their fastball. More than once, Bragga has mentioned this class as being the most talented he’s ever had. Reinforcements are coming.

More talent is half the battle. Bragga knows you can’t win without the players. But arranging those pieces into a cohesive unit takes time and deliberate influence. That’s piece is much harder to quantify.

“When you get chemistry, when you get culture built in the right direction, that’s when you can accomplish things that no one thinks you can accomplish. And and and that’s where we’re going. And I believe that with all my heart,” Bragga said, looking back at what the Owls were able to achieve this season.

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Culture, a buzzword of all buzzwords, is tested during hard times. A baseball team can’t find much more of a challenging environment that Rice did this season. When asked if the disappointing start slowed down the progress his team was making on the culture side, Bragga remained undeterred.

“For 2-14, Holy Smokes, I couldn’t ask for it to be better. It was fantastic. There was great chemistry and our players would say the same thing.”

Creating that engaged mindset through the midst of a ‘worst case scenario’ start is the baseball version of threading the needle. That Rice could hold constant through the storm, let alone come out ahead, could be evidence that Bragga’s roadmap to success is rooted in the right requirements. All we can do is take Bragga’s word for it. To this point, there’s been no evidence to the contrary.

Culture has been on his mind since he arrived, transitioning that intangible asset into black and white wins is the next step. One his team wasn’t able to take as often as they could have this season.

Thanks to recent NCAA legislation, the majority of those players are set to return to campus in 2021. Bragga’s perception will be put to the test. He’s not naive to that. He acknowledged “we’ve got work to do to get [this program] where it needs to go.”

Culture plus Talent equals wins remains the marching orders for Rice baseball. Thankfully, more talent is on the way.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 27 – Taylor McHargue talks 2013 Rice Football Championship

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Former Rice Football quarterback Taylor McHargue joins the show to discuss the 2013 Conference Championship team and the direction of the program today.

Rice Athletics has opted to bridge the sports void with re-airs of some of the program’s best moments. This past week they showed the 2013 Rice Football Conference Championship victory over Marshall at Rice Stadium, prompting a nice segue to our guest for this week’s show. Taylor McHargue, the quarterback of that team, joins us to relive those memories and discuss the latest happenings in the Rice sports world.

McHargue was mentioned in our prior episode (Ep. 26) with Rice Owls’ Voice JP Heath as a candidate for the 2010’s Rice Athletics Mount Rushmore. If you missed it, make sure you give that discussion a listen and send us your thoughts. We’re aiming to air a new show every Saturday for the next several weeks.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, Give a listen to Episode 27.


Episode 27 Notes

  • Housekeeping — If you like the show, please don’t forget to rate and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Spreading the word helps and your voice matters!
  • Taylor McHargue joins the show — It was great getting to catch up with the most recent conference championship-winning quarterback at Rice. We discussed:
    • The 2013 team and the build up to the championship season
    • His potential punting competition with former Owls’ specialist James Farrimond
    • The transition from David Bailiff to Mike Bloomgren and the program today
    • Proper football scheduling and the right mix of nonconference opponents
    • How the coronavirus could impact college football in 2020

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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Rice Baseball: What’s next for Roel Garcia?

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Roel Garcia has the best arm on the Rice baseball pitching staff, but whether or not he ever pitches again for the Owls remains an unanswered question.

Rice baseball head coach Matt Bragga has coached many talented pitchers over his 20+ year coaching career. In terms of raw ability, few measure up to Owls’ hurler Roel Garcia.

Garcia had the best stuff on the Rice staff in 2020. The righty is unquestionably among, if not atop, the list of the best arms Bragga has ever worked with. That’s part of what makes the joint tenure of Garcia and Bragga at Rice disappointing. A player who had the potential to be the staff ace could leave south main without ever throwing a pitch for Bragga at Reckling Park.

An injury wiped out all of Garcia’s 2019 campaign. His recovery process bled into 2020, where he was expected to ease into a spot in the Rice weekend rotation. He threw two innings in a road start at UC Irvine, striking out three and allowing no runs. After the start, he was promptly shut down.

It’s possible he could have returned at the tail end of the season, but the chances of him becoming a weekend staple came to a screeching halt in February. A month later, the season was suspended, putting the end to any chance of Garcia pitching for Rice in 2020. The question hanging in the air is this: has Garcia’s Rice baseball career come to an end?

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There are several factors impacting where Garcia ends up in 2021. Health is first and foremost. If Garcia can get back to his usual self, his opportunities will increase significantly.

Then comes the MLB Draft, which will reportedly be shortened to as few as five rounds and pushed back to July. Even hurt, Garcia stands a decent chance to be selected. He was a 27th round pick last year without throwing a pitch. With the draft being trimmed significantly, the odds of Garcia elevating himself to that level seem less likely, but not impossible.

Should Garcia return, the NCAA’s proposed eligibility changes would make him a junior again. That would give him leverage in the 2021 draft, with the ability to return for another collegiate season in 2022.

Bragga has been an adamant supporter of Garciasince he arrived at Rice. “I want what’s best for Roel,” Bragga said, speaking of the junior’s uncertain future. There’s a real chance the Owls’ won’t see Garcia on the mound in Houston ever again. Or he could be their No. 1 for the next two seasons. There’s so much in the air right now.

No matter how things play out, Garcia’s talent and personality have made an impact on his teammates and the program. For now, we (and Garcia) just have to wait.

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Rice Baseball: New faces give hope through tenuous season

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It’s never too early for Rice baseball to start looking toward the future. The Owls have young talent on both sides of the diamond set to return in 2021.

Every Rice baseball player will be eligible for an additional year of eligibility thanks to a recent NCAA ruling. That’s good news for the Owls’ seniors, but regardless of who returns and who doesn’t, Rice has plenty of young talent waiting in the wings.

On the mound

The Rice baseball weekend rotation was going to look different in 2020. It seemed like the losses of Matt Canterino and Evan Kravetz would thrust the relatively untested arms behind them into the brightest spotlights of their young careers. JUCO transfer Alex DeLeon seemed to be the easy name to pencil into Friday nights, but with Roel Garcia and Dalton Wood both recovering from injuries, the rest of the rotation was up in the air.

Coach Matt Bragga had a very different read on the situation. He knew the Sunday job was going to be a work-in-progress, but he never wavered on his Saturday selection: sophomore hurler Blake Brogdon.

Brogdon through 1.1 innings as a freshman, ending the year with an eye-popping (and not in a good way) 27.00 ERA. The idea of him being the No. 2 to start the season was puzzling, albeit not impossible. Rice really didn’t have any alternatives who were both healthy and clear improvements. So Brogdon was the guy. And he was excellent.

Brogdon was arguably the best in his four turns through the rotation. Bragga cited “his poise, his determination, and work ethic” as drivers for his massive year-over-year improvement. He went at least five innings, allowing three or fewer runs against Texas, UC Irvine and Missouri State. His outing against Texas Tech was shorter (3.2 IP) but he only allowed one run.

Drake Greenwood, who had emerged as the Sunday starter, also had an impressive run. He led all Rice pitchers with a 3.94 ERA in four appearances, with three starts. His 16 strikeouts trailed only Brogdon’s 18. Greenwood’s 1.77 strikeout-t0-walk ratio was superb.

And then there was Brandon Deskins, who outside of a rough inning against Texas State was near lights out when he was on the bump. Deskins was one Bragga named as someone who had “made a big jump” in this abridged season.

At the plate

The bulk of the Rice baseball lineup was steered by upperclassmen. That left only a few rotational spots, mostly in the outfield and at DH, to be exchanged from day to day.

Newcomer Austin Bulman proved to be a mainstay in the Rice lineup, producing six multi-hit games. He was one of three hitters to appear in all 16 contests this season. He brought some power to a lineup that was more doubles-bent than one that aimed for the fences. Bulman’s two home runs represented a quarter of the Owls’ eight long balls on the season.

Daniel Hernandez went two-for-three on opening day but managed two hits in his next 21 plate appearances. Reserve catchers Eric Benitez and Cullen Hannigan both faired well in limited action from the batter’s box, going 1-for-2 and 2-for-6, respectively.

The most puzzling fizzled bat belonged to freshman Tyler LaRue, who earned the start at DH on Opening Day. LaRue had a hot bat throughout the fall but went 3-for-21 this season. Bragga doubled-down on LaRue’s ability. “I will go to my grave some day saying this kid is going to hit at an elite level,” the coach said about the young hitter. Bragga then recalled the 1-for-9 start of his college career.

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