HOUSTON – HCU dropped its Rice Invitational opener on Friday night, falling to the host Owls in three games (14-25, 12-25, 13-25) at Tudor Fieldhouse. 

The Huskies found themselves in an early hole in game one, trailing 7-2. Audrey Pearce put home a kill to cut the Rice lead to 17-12, but the Owls rattled off a 8-2 spurt down the stretch to finish out the set.

The second frame saw a kill by Cassidy Drapela and two straight errors by Rice help the Huskies close to within 9-8 early. That would be as close as the Huskies would get, as Rice would regroup with a decisive 11-2 burst that led to the second game victory and a 2-0 lead in the match

HCU trailed just 9-6 after a couple more kills from Drapela in to open game three. The Owls again went on the offensive, this time with an 11-3 run that would ultimately close out the match. 

Drapela and Pearce led the HCU offense, each with six kills. Grace McLaughlin tossed up 12 assists and had five digs, while Kaley Feris led the defensive effort with 17 digs.

Rice, now 3-3 on the season, finished the night hitting .347 and had 20 blocks to just two for HCU. Danyle Courtney led the Owls with 14 kills while Izzy Rawlings had 37 assists.

The Huskies saw their four-match winning streak snapped, with the overall record now even at 4-4. HCU will close out the two-match weekend across town when it faces FGCU on Sunday at Tudor Fieldhouse. First serve is scheduled for 1 pm.