2023 Rice Owls

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2023 Rice Owls

      

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2023 Roster

Satasha Kostelecky Gr. Student 6'4" MB	Emilia Weske Gr. Student (USC) 6'3" RS	Sahara Maruska Senior 5'8" OH	Danyle Courtley Senior 6'1" OH	Nia McCardell Senior 5'7" L/DS
Izzy Rawlings Senior 5'11" S	Lola Foord Junior 5'11" RS	Kaitlyn Knobbe Junior (SMU) 6'0" MB	Darby Harris Sophomore 5'9" S	Taylor Johnson Sophomore 6'1" OH
Lademi Ogunlana Sophomore 5'11" MB	Gaby Mansfield Sophomore 5'4" L/DS	Cindy Tchouangwa Freshman 6'0" OH	Stephanie Gutierrez Freshman 6'1" MB	Campbell Love Freshman 5'6" L/DS

Coaching Staff
Genny Volpe
Head Coach

John Klanac
Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator

Trey Cruz
Assistant Coach

Kasey Price
Assistant Coach

Key Returners
1) Sarah Maruska
2) Danyle Courtley
3) Nia McCardell
4) Darby Harris
5) Gaby Mansfield
6) Satasha Kostelecky

Key New Incoming Players
1) Emilia Weske
2) Cindy Tchouangwa
3) Kaitlyn Knobbe

Key Losses
1) Carly Graham
2) Anota Adekunle
3) Ellie Bichelmeyer



Thanks to avid 2.0 for the template.

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2023 Schedule

Day	Date	Time (CT)	Opponent	Location	W/L
Saturday,	August 19	5 PM	Houston (Exhibition)	Tudor Fieldhouse
Friday,	August 25	6 PM	Southern Miss	Tudor Fieldhouse	W
Saturday,	August 26	6 PM	USC	Tudor Fieldhouse	W
Tuesday,	August 29	6 PM	Louisiana	Tudor Fieldhouse	L
Friday,	September 1	7 PM	Baylor	Waco, TX	L
Tuesday,	September 5	6 PM	Stanford	Tudor Fieldhouse	L
Friday,	September 8	6 PM	Houston Christian	Tudor Fieldhouse	W
Saturday,	September 9	4 PM	Florida Gulf Coast	Tudor Fieldhouse	W
Monday,	September 11	6 PM	Texas	Austin, TX	L
Friday,	September 15	1 PM	Long Island	Manhattan, KS	W
Saturday,	September 16	12 PM	Kansas State	Manhattan, KS	W
Wednesday,	September 20	6 PM	UAB	Tudor Fieldhouse
Saturday,	September 23	3 PM	Tulsa	Tulsa, OK
Sunday,	September 24	1 PM	Tulsa	Tulsa, OK
Friday,	September 29	6 PM	UTSA	Tudor Fieldhouse
Saturday,	September 30	1 PM	UTSA	Tudor Fieldhouse
Friday,	October 6	6 PM	Memphis	Memphis, TN
Sunday,	October 8	12 PM	Charlotte	Charlotte, NC
Friday,	October 13	6 PM	FAU	Tudor Fieldhouse
Friday,	October 20	7 PM	SMU	Dallas, TX
Saturday,	October 21	3 PM	SMU	Dallas, TX
Friday,	October 27	6 PM	East Carolina	Tudor Fieldhouse
Sunday,	October 29	1 PM	Temple	Tudor Fieldhouse
Friday,	November 3	6 PM	Tulane	Tudor Fieldhouse
Saturday,	November 4	2 PM	Tulane	Tudor Fieldhouse
Friday,	November 10	6 PM	North Texas	Denton, TX
Saturday,	November 11	2 PM	North Texas	Denton, TX
Friday,	November 17	6 PM	Wichita State	Tudor Fieldhouse
Saturday,	November 18	2 PM	Wichita State	Tudor Fieldhouse
Wednesday,	November 22	11:30 AM	South Florida	Tampa, FL

[dragon2owl]

The obvious question going into the 2023 season is at the setter position. Both Harris and Rawlings have been getting reps, but who will get the starting position? Will either be enough to keep Rice playing at the same level as Graham did?

Other questionable position is at MB. Adekunle was strong at the middle. Will Kostelecky or Knobbe (transfer from SMU) step up and replace Adekunle's production.

Rice loses Bichelmeyer, but brings in Weske from USC. Should be an upgrade and likely a 6 rotation player.

Maruska and Courtley were two of the top 3 hitters last year. They will need to improve their hitting percentage if Rice wants to improve on last year. Maruska will likely be a 6 rotation player again which helps in the back row.

Rice's backline defense will be solid again with McCardell and Mansfield.

Tchouangwa probably has the most potential to make an impact as a freshmen, if she can get some playing time.

[JJVb]

[dragon2owl]

Just got back from the blue/gray scrimmage. It is a little difficult in that that team knows each other so it's hard to actually know how they will be against competition. Unfortunately I won't be able to make the exhibition vs Houston this Saturday.

Libero/DS
Solid group. There were a lot of long rallies because of their defense and they are pretty good at setting the ball if they need to. McCardell could make an All-American team this year. She is that good. She was already decent at serving and that has improved. Mansfield is more confident this year. With them two in the back row there's going to be a lot of digging! Love is a solid backup and the position looks to be good for the future.

MB
Knobbe and Kostelecky are going to the starters. They both play well but hit hard. Not going to see as much of the straight down dunk we saw with Adekunle. Both were decent servers and better at backline defense than Adekunle was. Ogulana got some nice Adekunle-like kills but the other two are better at blocking. Gutierrez looked solid as a freshmen. I actually liked her blocking out of all 4 MBs.

OH
Courtley is way more confident this year. She was hitting the ball hard and getting it to the floor. Not much improvement in serving. Maruska was fairly quiet in the offense, but served well and played good defense. Her leadership was present though. Johnson had some nice hits but was inconsistent and had some errors. If any newbie is going to take time away from a returning player it is going to be Tchouangwa. She was getting nice kills and was playing solid defense all around. I think if Maruska is struggling, Tchouangwa will be put in.

RS
Weske was solid but did not impress me. Don't get me wrong, she is going to do well but I think she is going to need some time to gel with the setters. She wasn't a flashy hitter or hard hitter but still made some nice plays. She also only played up front for most of the sets. Weske is a good server. Foord had some nice strong kills but also had a lot of errors, hitting the ball out a lot (too strong).

S
Rawlings and Harris did a nice job throughout the match. Harris quietly led her teams to victory. I say quietly cause at times I didn't even notice/remember she was setting. Harris is also better at defense. Both are solider servers.

Overall I think the team might need some time to work things out. No doubt the defense is going to give Rice a fighting chance/win every match. Wish I could attend the UH match as that would give me a better sense on how blocking is going to be this year. I think we are better at serving this year and look to be as good if not better at backline defense. I would rank our hitters as Weske, Courtley, Kostelecky, Knobbe, Maruska.

[JJVb]

Aug 17, 2023 18:15:08 GMT -5 dragon2owl said:

Just got back from the blue/gray scrimmage. It is a little difficult in that that team knows each other so it's hard to actually know how they will be against competition. Unfortunately I won't be able to make the exhibition vs Houston this Saturday.

Libero/DS
Solid group. There were a lot of long rallies because of their defense and they are pretty good at setting the ball if they need to. McCardell could make an All-American team this year. She is that good. She was already decent at serving and that has improved. Mansfield is more confident this year. With them two in the back row there's going to be a lot of digging! Love is a solid backup and the position looks to be good for the future.

MB
Knobbe and Kostelecky are going to the starters. They both play well but hit hard. Not going to see as much of the straight down dunk we saw with Adekunle. Both were decent servers and better at backline defense than Adekunle was. Ogulana got some nice Adekunle-like kills but the other two are better at blocking. Gutierrez looked solid as a freshmen. I actually liked her blocking out of all 4 MBs.

OH
Courtley is way more confident this year. She was hitting the ball hard and getting it to the floor. Not much improvement in serving. Maruska was fairly quiet in the offense, but served well and played good defense. Her leadership was present though. Johnson had some nice hits but was inconsistent and had some errors. If any newbie is going to take time away from a returning player it is going to be Tchouangwa. She was getting nice kills and was playing solid defense all around. I think if Maruska is struggling, Tchouangwa will be put in.

RS
Weske was solid but did not impress me. Don't get me wrong, she is going to do well but I think she is going to need some time to gel with the setters. She wasn't a flashy hitter or hard hitter but still made some nice plays. She also only played up front for most of the sets. Weske is a good server. Foord had some nice strong kills but also had a lot of errors, hitting the ball out a lot (too strong).

S
Rawlings and Harris did a nice job throughout the match. Harris quietly led her teams to victory. I say quietly cause at times I didn't even notice/remember she was setting. Harris is also better at defense. Both are solider servers.

Overall I think the team might need some time to work things out. No doubt the defense is going to give Rice a fighting chance/win every match. Wish I could attend the UH match as that would give me a better sense on how blocking is going to be this year. I think we are better at serving this year and look to be as good if not better at backline defense. I would rank our hitters as Weske, Courtley, Kostelecky, Knobbe, Maruska.

Nice review. Yeah Weske at USC could be a little up and down, but when that setter connection improves, can be very effective. Maybe a Houston fan will have a recap of their game.

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