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Rice Volleyball: 2021 season begins in thrilling fashion

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Rice Volleyball rallied from an early deficit to win its season opener, showcasing the kind of resiliency they’ll need to succeed this year.

In many respects, it was surreal for coach Genny Volpe and Rice Volleyball to just be back in action at Tudor Fieldhouse against Houston on Saturday. When the first serve landed it broke a streak of 471 days since the Owls played a game that counted on their home court. The primary driver for such a lengthy delay, COVID-19, hasn’t gone away, but the Owls have worked incredibly hard to get to this point. They’re not going to quit now.

“It was great to be back in the gym and just great for the team to be able to compete,” Volpe said in the aftermath. “They were loving every second of it. The good, the bad, the ugly, they were loving the competition.”

The first stanza of the new season provided an immediate test from their crosstown rivals. Houston came out swinging, capitalizing on the Owls’ mistakes, winning the first two sets 25-20 and 25-18. Rice hit just .053 and .103 in those frames, well under the .269 rate they hit at last season.

Volpe mentioned she spoke to the team for about a minute in the break between sets. “There was no magic stuff,” she admitted, praising the teams’ resiliency. “Volleyball. it’s a game of momentum, and we didn’t have it. And we found a way to grab it and never let go of it.”

From that point onward, Rice would settle in. They took the third set 25-22 and the fourth by a commanding 25-12 score. When push came to shove, the Cougars couldn’t match the Owls’ firepower in the final set. Rice prevailed 15-11, clinching the match with a kill from Nicole Lennon.

Lennon (18 kills) had a solid day, but Volpe herself called it a team effort, citing performances by Tia Grippo, Elizabeth Labue and Maddie Fowler. Freshman Nia McCardell, Danyle Courtley and Sahara Maruska shined, too.

“A lot of people played today,” Volpe said, “There’s a lot of people making contributions and I think, what I’m so excited about,  is how we have so many options.” Those options each made their marks, setting the stage for a promising season despite the challenges that loom ahead.

Rice will close January with one more game against Houston and a two-game set with SMU in Dallas. From there, it’s onto conference play. The Owls know it’s going to be a bumpy ride, but they’re committed to seeing it through. Expectations haven’t waivered. Volpe knows the Owls’ opponents will have to navigate through similar challenges.

Having the poise to push through the noise and stay ready, that’s what will separate this team from its challengers. “Once this whistle new and we started, it was natural, it really was,” Volpe said. And just like they had so many times before, Rice found a way to win.

📸 @LysakerPhotos
January 23, 2021 : during the match between the Houston Cougars and the Rice Owls at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas. Rice pulls from behind 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2 for the win. (Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker | Rice Athletics). Used with permission.
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Rice Volleyball: Owls ready for 2021 spring season

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Rice Volleyball will soon begin its 2021 spring season. From the key games to preseason accolades. Here’s everything you need to know.

Amid the many changes forced on college athletics by COVID-19, Conference USA moved all fall team sports (except football) to the spring semester. That included the Rice Volleyball season, which will begin in late January now rather than having its traditional fall start. When the Owls do retake the court, they’ll do so with robust expectations.

Rice Volleyball has continued to climp under the direction of head coach Genny Volpe. The Owls have reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons, winning 20+ games in all three years. In the Owls’ most recent campaign, they finished an outstanding 27-4. That’s a high bar, but the Owls won’t shy away from the lofty precedent.

Preseason C-USA Poll

Conference USA moved to divisional formats for the season rather than the traditional top-to-bottom ranks. Rice was picked to win the West. Western Kentucky was picked to win the East. The Owls finished a game behind the Hilltoppers in the overall conference standings last season.

Preseason All C-USA Team selections

Rice had two players selected to the preseason All-Conference team: Nicole Lennon and Anota Adekunle. Both earned First Team All-Conference selections at the end of last season.

Notable games

Rice opens their season at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 23. Then they’ll make the short trip down the road to the Fertitta Center to play Houston on Sunday, Jan. 24. That marks the first set of a series of couplets versus like opponents.

Conference play begins on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8 at home against Louisiana Tech. The Owls will play 12 conference games against six opponents before closing out their regular season with marquee matchups home against Baylor (Mar. 19) and at Texas (Mar. 23.)

Any necessary makeup games will be played the week between those nonconference games at the Conference USA Tournament, slated to begin on April 1. You can see the complete schedule here.

Offseason notes

Rice Volleyball was featured in part of our extended offseason showcase, featuring stories about Nicole Lennon’s ascent and expectations for the team in 2021 any beyond. You can check those five pieces out here.

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Rice Athletics: Extended offseason showcase series

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Showcasing a variety of Rice Athletics programs who don’t always get the spotlight was a focal point of the 2020 Extended Offseason. Check out key storylines across many Owls’ sports.

When sports were canceled in March the offseason calendar was more than doubled almost overnight. The silver lining in the midst of the heavy situation was additional time to shed some light on a few Rice Athletics programs that hadn’t been given as much of a spotlight on the site before. Over the span of the last few months, we’ve run weekly series on other programs beyond the revenue sports that typically get the most attention (although we wrote about those too). Here’s a summary of those series, all in one place:

Volleyball

Soccer

Swimming

Tennis

Baseball

Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

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Rice Volleyball: Raising the bar for 2020 and beyond

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Rice Volleyball won its first NCAA Tournament match in school history in 2019. How will the Owls’ measure future success in light of that achievement?

How do you improve on the best season you’ve ever had? That’s the question hanging over Rice Volleyball this offseason. The Owls will lose several key pieces and ask new ones to help carry the load. The objective will always be to win, but the standard has been set higher than it’s ever been before.

Coach Genny Volpe has made the program’s expectations crystal clear.

“Getting to the NCAA Tournament is our expectation, and its been our expectation to continue to elevate and advance in the tournament, but for me, and more importantly, are we maximizing our potential? Are we improving when we get on the court daily? Because then all of those things fall into place.

In the midst of a world that focuses all too often on the end result, Volpe remains committed to the journey. Rather than use terms like optimist or realist, Volpe calls herself “a real process-oriented type of person.”

That mindset is apropos to the culture of Rice Athletics and it makes a lot of sense. It takes so many things to go right to reach the pinnacle of any endeavor. There can only be one national champion every year. Reaching that apex takes effort and focus, but it also takes a little bit of luck.

Volpe knows that she can train consistency and focus. If she does that, the Owls will be set up to capitalize on any breaks that do come her way. And they’ll be better prepared to navigate the obstacles that will inevitably appear as well.

Seasons are measured in wins and losses, but that’s not the metric Volpe deems most vital. “Are we maximizing our potential?” is the question that runs through her head over and over again.

Potential is much more difficult to quantify. It can’t be measured by a number, rather calculated through less tangible facets: culture, chemistry, buy-in and others.

Seamlessly integrating newcomers into a program that has already found a productive rhythm is a challenge, but one that will prove vital toward the Owls’ success on the court next fall. Volpe’s messaging is consistent in that arena as well. “Find what your role is, no matter how big or how small, and embrace it for the good of the team.” Compiling those roles into offensive and defensive strategies is the starting point for what Rice hopes will be another year of record-setting success.

“It’s going to take work. There’s no question we lost a lot of pieces to that puzzle,” Volpe said. But there was no hesitation in her voice. The talent to win exists on the roster. Her job is to assemble the pieces, something she’s excelled at in her decade-plus tenure at Rice.

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From good to great, the continued ascent of Rice Volleyball’s Nicole Lennon

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Rice Volleyball had playmakers from top to bottom of their roster, making incredible Nicole Lennon’s 2019 season that much more impressive.

There have been few seasons in Rice volleyball history as dominant as Nicole Lennon’s 2019 campaign. The Preseason C-USA Player of the Year, Lennon took home seven of 12 C-USA Offensive Player of the Week Honors. She was a first-team All C-USA selection, a finalist for Houston Sports Collegiate Player of the Year and the team MVP.

Lennon tallied her 1,000th career dig this season and led C-USA in total kills (505). She had a season-high 32-kills against Stephen F Austin and 23 in the Owls’ upset over No. 3 Texas. She always delivered in the biggest moments.

The list of accomplishments is mounting. She already belongs on the shortlist of best Rice athletes of the decade. But the best could still be yet to come. At least, that’s what coach Genny Volpe sees when she watches how Lennon works and prepares off the court.

“Her volleyball IQ keeps getting higher and higher,” Volpe said. “Every year she continues to make gains in efficiency.”

The numbers bear out Volpe’s observation. Since her freshman season in 2017, Lennon has improved her hitting percentage by 129 percentage points (.159 to .288). Her kill count has risen from by 80 (425 to 505) and her points are up 75.5 (476.5 to 552).

Lennon’s sophomore stats were better than her freshman stats. She made another jump from sophomore year to junior year. If she maintains that trajectory, we might get to witness an even better version of Lennon in 2020. That’s an incredible notion to behold.

Lennon boasts the rare combination of elite athleticism and a relentless pursuit of excellence. “She’s somebody who doesn’t ever had a bad practice,” Volpe remarked. Adding that on Lennon’s self assessed “bad days” the outside hitter will stay late, pushing herself to be the best version of herself that she can be.

It’s that level of drive, of mental focus, that makes Lennon so dominant. Every match has ups and downs. Mistakes are made, even by players as consistent as Lennon. It’s those who have the mental fortitude and the focus to put look past those mistakes and move forward that are able to ascend from good to great.

Lennon was great last season. Watching her take the next step in 202o is going to special.

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