Box Score

HOUSTON – Houston Baptist senior outside hitter Heather Leaverton had 13 kills and 11 digs and only one match after recording her 1,000^th career kill, recorded her 1,000^th career dig in a 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 27-25, 25-15) loss to Rice in the Rice Invitational Friday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. Leaverton is only the third player in school history with both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for her career, joining Elele Ekadeli and Jessica Barrera.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Casey led the Huskies (8-6) with 14 kills and a career-high 26 digs. Junior middle blocker Caiti Wenger had 12 kills, while sophomore middle blocker Madeline Gaffney had 11 kills and four blocks. Senior setter Victoria Weatherly had 48 assists and nine digs, while sophomore defensive specialist Haley Hoffman had 11 digs.
 
Laurie McNamara had 21 kills for the Owls (6-7), while Tyler Jenkins had 15 and Nancy Cole had 14. Megan Murphy had 50 assists and 12 digs, while Daniela Arenas had 20 digs to lead Rice defensively. Kimberly Vaio added 11 digs.
 
The Owls hit .300 for the match, compared to .225 for the Huskies, who were just recovering from a grueling five-set loss to Texas Tech. Rice outdug HBU, 77-69, and outblocked them, 7-6.
 
HBU stormed out to a 7-2 lead in the first set and held the lead at 10-6, but Rice scored four-straight points to tie the set. With the score tied, 13-13, the Huskies got a kill and an ace from Casey then an Owls' hitting error made it 16-13. After going up 18-14, HBU was able to keep Rice at least three points away the rest of the set and went on to a 25-20 win. Wenger had five kills, while Casey had four kills and eight digs in the set. Nancy Cole led Rice with eight kills, and Laurie McNamara added four kills.
 
Rice jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the second and still led by five at 12-7, but HBU scored four-straight to cut the deficit to one. The Owls were able to extend their lead back to 17-13, and the Huskies were able to get back to within two on three occasions, but Rice took the second, 25-20, to even the match. Leaverton had five kills in the set for HBU, while McNamara had seven for Rice.
 
The Owls scored five of the first six points in the third and led 10-6 when the Huskies scored three-straight points to cut the deficit to one. With Rice leading 12-10, HBU appeared to have won the point, but the down official ruled he interfered with the play and the point was replayed. The Huskies also won that point, which would have tied the set, but the Owls still led, 12-11. Rice led by as many as four twice and leading 23-19, HBU scored three to cut the lead to one, then tied the set, 24-24. The Owls were finally able to put the Huskies away, 27-25, to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Leaverton led the Huskies with five kills, while Casey, Wenger and Gaffney each had four. Casey also had nine digs in the set. McNamara and Jenkins each had six kills for the Owls.
 
Rice scored the first four points of the fourth, then extended its lead to eight at 15-7. The Owls led by as many as 10, which turned out to be the final margin in a 25-15 victory. Casey had five kills for the Huskies, while Jenkins had five for the Owls.
 
The Huskies conclude the tournament against Cal State Northridge Saturday at 4:30 p.m.