bleedCrimson.net ReportThe Aggie volleyball team swept Rice 3-0 in the first game of the Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, LA on Friday afternoon. The victory did not come without a price as sophomore outside hitter Stephanie Ziegler went down with an injury late in the first set with the Aggies leading 19-13. Ziegler had to be taken off the floor on a stretcher and official word from the Aggie coaching staff is that she suffered a broken tibea and broken fibea near her right ankle and will miss the remainder of the season.
Aggie freshman Rocio Gutierrez came into the match for the Aggies to replace the injured Ziegler who had been playing well to that point. The Owls went right after Gutierrez on serve and she struggled passing the ball and Rice took advantage cutting the Aggies' lead to 21-19. "When she first came into the match she was real nervous and passed really bad serve-receive," said Coach Jordan. After a timeout by the Aggies, Gutierrez settled down and the Aggies would take the set 25-19 on four straight hitting errors by the Owls. "They went right at her [Rocio] when she first came in but out of the timeout she came out and three passed three or four balls in a row and we sided out efficiently."
Kayleigh Giddens led all players with a match high 12 kills on 32 swings with just two hitting errors to finish with a .312 hitting percentage. "She played well, she really attacked the ball well and carved it around the block," said Coach Jordan. "There was a stretch in game two and a little bit in game three where we didn't pass the ball particularly well and they had a double block in front of her and she was great hitting balls off fingertips and carving it around blocks. She did a great job of scoring." He added, "Even when she wasn't getting kills she was doing a great job of putting pressure on our opponent."
Desiree Scott returned to the floor after a one match absence due to illness and finished with six kills on eight swings with two hitting errors for a .500 hitting percentage. She also added four block assists as did fellow middle Kelsey Brennan who also finished with six kills. As a team the Aggies hit .198 on the match.
The Owls struggled offensively hitting .073 as a team. Nancy Cole finished with 10 kills on 21 swings with three hitting errors for a .333 hitting percentage as she was the only Owl in double-figures in kills. Mariah Riddlesprigger finished with eight kills for the Owls but also recorded eight attack errors.
Defensively the Aggies' Ellen Miks out battled Rice All-American libero Tracey Lam as Miks finished with a match-high 19 kills while Lam finished with 16.
The Owls had a total of five service aces, three by Megan Murphy and two by Tracey Lam while the Aggies had one service ace off the serve of Kayleigh Giddens.
The Aggies improve to 6-1 on the season while Rice falls to 3-4. The Aggies will play two matches on Saturday to finish up the Tiger Classic as they'll face North Carolina at 11:30 a.m. MT and finish against No. 21 LSU at 7:00 p.m. MT.
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