East Carolina Drops Tough Five Setter At Rice

Friday, October 27

Houston, Texas

5:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

18-5,9-3AAC

Rice

14-7,8-3AAC

East Carolina

Rice

October 27, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

HOUSTON, Texas – A bout between two of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference came down to the wire Friday night as Rice fended off two East Carolina match points in the fifth set to slip away with a 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 18-25, 25-14, 16-14) victory at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Despite the setback that snapped the Pirates' (18-5, 9-3 AAC) six-match win streak, ECU maintained its 1.5 match lead in the East Division thanks to Tulsa's sweep of South Florida. East Carolina also remained in third place in the overall league standings.

A trio of Pirates tallied double-digit kills as sophomore outside hitter Angeles Alderete, senior right side Fran McBride and senior outside hitter Brittany Wood notched 17, 14 and 13 respectively. Junior libero Lara Uyar paced the back row with 21 digs while Alderete added 13 and Wood racked up 10 to each complete a double-double. Senior setter Julianna Askew also posted a double-double of 27 assists and 13 digs. Danyle Courtley led all players with 20 digs and hit a stout .391 in the contest.

After firing at over .200 in the first three frames, ECU faltered in the fourth and fifth sets with .073 and .111 hitting percentages. The Owls (14-7, 8-3 AAC) ended up with .218 efficiency for the match and hit .222 in the deciding stanza. Rice also held advantages in kills (64-56), assists (54-48), digs (94-89) and total blocks (8.0-5.0).

The Owls grabbed the first frame pretty easily, winning it by seven, before the Pirates erased a late 20-16 deficit in the second and ended that set on a 9-3 run to tie the contest at intermission.

East Carolina built a 15-12 lead at the media timeout in the third thanks to an Alderete ace, but Rice battled back to knot the score at 17. As it turns out, the Pirates would limit the Owls to just one point the remainder of the set and pulled away to take a 2-1 advantage headed to the fourth.

The Pirates never found their footing in the fourth frame as Rice ended up taking it by double figures to set up the deciding race to 15. The sides duked it out to a deadlock at nine points apiece before consecutive kills by McBride sent the home team scrambling for a timeout. A kill of Alderete's swing put the Purple and Gold on the verge leading 13-10 but the Owls scored two straight to draw within one. Alderete scored again a couple of rallies later, giving ECU match point at 14-12. However, Rice came up with three blocks in the final four points to end the contest on a 4-0 run and seal the comeback.

Up Next: East Carolina heads to Tulsa for a Sunday matinee at the Reynolds Center. First serve is set for 1 p.m.