SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA volleyball team will return to its home court on Sunday and Monday, welcoming league front runner Rice to the Convocation Center in a pair of 1 p.m. matches that will be broadcast live on CUSA TV.
UTSA (3-7, 1-3 Conference USA) is coming off a pair of losses at UTEP on Monday and Tuesday in El Paso, falling on Monday in four sets and on Tuesday in three. The Roadrunners last competed at home with a four-set win over North Texas on Feb. 14.
The Roadrunners have hit .200 as a team in 2021 and are averaging 12.4 kills, 11.6 assists, 1.3 aces, 15.4 digs and 1.6 blocks per set. Opponents are hitting .256 with 13.9 kills and 17.3 digs per set.
Sophomore Hunter Coppola is having a strong season for the Roadrunners, averaging a team-leading 2.98 kills per set, hitting .197. Bianca Ejesieme – who earned C-USA Freshman Team honors last year – is hitting .215 with 2.26 kills per set. Junior Kirby Smith, the 2019 C-USA Freshman of the Year, is averaging 2.48 kills and 2.52 digs per set.
Sophomore setter Courtney Walters, a native of McKinney, Texas, averages a team-leading 9.43 assists per set, with a club-high 12 service aces and 2.19 digs per set. Junior libero Mia Ybarra averages 5.07 digs per set and sports 10 service aces.
Jessica Langridge has totaled 47 kills early in the season, with a .284 hitting percentage, while freshman Amanda Ifeanyi averages 2.42 kills per set with a .350 hitting mark.
Rice (7-3, 6-0 C-USA) has not lost a set in league play through six matches. The three losses for the Owls came in non-league action, at SMU twice and at Houston. The Owls lead the league in blocks and rank 26th in the NCAA in hitting percentage. Last season, Rice claimed 27 wins, returning four starters from the 2019 club.
Individually for the Owls, junior middle blocker Anota Adekunle is the reigning C-USA Defensive Player of the Week and has helped limit opponents to a .200 hitting percentage in five straight matches. Senior Nicole Lennon leads all active NCAA players in career kills.
This marks the first time the two teams have faced each other since the semifinals of the 2019 C-USA Championship.
- UTSA -
