HOUSTON – Double-doubles from Brianna McCulloch and Marijeta Runjic helped the Roadrunners prevent a sweep, but it was not enough as the Rice Owls defeated UTSA 3-2 (23-25, 25-12, 31-29, 25-22, 15-6) on Friday night at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston. The Roadrunners (7-12, 5-2) took the first and third sets to take the lead, before Rice (17-5, 7-1 C-USA) secured the final two sets to win the match.
McCulloch and Runjic led UTSA as they contributed all-around performances on offense and defense. Securing her sixth double-double of the season, McCulloch registered 19 kills, 12 digs, a block and a service ace while Runjic recorded 13 kills, 16 digs, two service aces and a block for her third double-double of the season. Amanda Gonzales took the assist load with 50, while Emily Ramirez manned the UTSA defense with 21 digs.
In total, the Roadrunners recorded 80 digs, 56 kills, 52 assists, nine aces and eight blocks while the Owls notched 88 digs, 56 kills, 47 assists, 27 blocks and four service aces.
Set one began with Rice jumping out to an 8-4 lead before a pair of kills from Kara Teal cut the Owls' advantage to two. Rice would make another run before the Roadrunners scored four unanswered points behind service aces from Runjic and a kill from McCulloch to bring the score 18-16 and force a Rice timeout. UTSA extended its momentum with five more points to tie the set at 21. The Roadrunners claimed the lead and the set off consecutive Owl attacking errors.
Rice picked up the pace in the second set and held the Roadrunners to its lowest hitting percentage of the day with a -.056 clip and won 25-12.
The third set, which featured 11 ties and seven lead changes, is UTSA's longest set this season.
The Roadrunners used a 4-1 run following a timeout midway through the frame to take a 14-13 lead. Rice responded with 3-0 run to regain the advantage at 16-14. The teams battled back-and-forth tying the score nine more times and pushing the set into extra points. With the frame knotted at 29, UTSA claimed the stanza and the lead off kills from McCulloch and Megan Slan.
The Owls went ahead and evened the match in the fourth set with a 25-22 victory. The Roadrunners played from behind until a kill from Runjic ignited an UTSA 6-0 run, pushing the visitors to a 18-15 lead. Rice battled back to tie the score and closed the frame on a 4-0 run.
Set five saw Rice solidify control of the match, jumping out to a 10-2 lead from two runs before the Roadrunners were able to respond. UTSA was able to capitalize on kills from Teal and McCulloch for a 3-0 run before the Owls notched a kill and block to end the set 15-6 and the match 3-2.
The Roadrunners will return to action on Sunday, Oct. 22, when they take on WKU in Bowling Green, Ky. First serve is set for 12 p.m.
