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HOUSTON – Houston Baptist University suffered its first loss of the season as Rice handed the Huskies a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-17) setback at the Rice Mizuno Invitational Friday morning at Tudor Fieldhouse.

HBU junior outside hitter Heather Leaverton led HBU (5-1) with nine kills and added 10 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Caiti Wenger hit .500 with eight kills, while senior middle blocker Jolie Graf and senior outside hitter Christie Dorch each had six kills.

Senior libero Courtney Whittleman led the Huskies with a team-high 11 digs, while junior setter Victoria Weatherly had 30 assists.

Nancy Cole hit .632 and led Rice (1-2) with 13 kills and four blocks, while Laurie McNamara hit .421 with eight kills and four blocks. Megan White led the Owls with a match-high 12 digs.

Rice hit .387 for the match, while holding HBU to .163. The Owls outdug the Huskies, 44-36, outblocked them, 8-3, and outaced them, 6-3.

McNamara had five kills to lead Rice, as the Owls hit .407 and won the first set, 25-16. Leaverton led the Huskies with three kills, but the Huskies were held to a .065 attack percentage. In the second set, the Huskies and Owls were tied, 6-6, but Rice scored eight of the next nine points to take control and go on to a 25-18 decision and take a 2-0 lead into the break. Leaverton added six kills in the set for HBU, while Cole led Rice with seven kills.

In the third set, Rice scored six-straight points to take a 9-3 lead and ended up hitting .419 for the set to take a 25-17 victory to close out the match.