Rice Stars in 2003 Debut at River City Tournament

Tiffany Rice

Sophomore Tiffany Rice had a strong opening weekend for The College of Wooster volleyball team, producing 60 kills against just 11 errors, while leading Wooster to one win and three close losses at the River City Tournament, hosted by Marietta College Friday and Saturday (Aug. 29-30).

The youthful Scots started the eight-team event with a five-game setback to Carnegie Mellon University, splitting the first four games (22-30, 30-28, 28-30, 30-25) and then dropping the decider 15-8, followed by a disappointing four-game loss to Washington & Jefferson College (30-27, 21-30, 26-30, 18-30) late Friday.

Wooster bounced back Saturday morning, cruising past Ohio Valley (W. Va.) College in three (30-19, 30-19, 30-22). The end of pool play saw the Scots matched up with conference foe Denison University in the bracket, and Wooster nearly extended it to five but was knocked out — 22-30, 30-26, 19-30, 28-30.

Rice’s .392 kill percentage was complemented by freshmen Erin Schaffner’s and Sarah Marschall’s 41- and 33-kill weekends, respectively. Sophomore setter Mary-Kate Fowkes played a major role as well, passing out 157 assists in the four matches and committing only one service error out of 70 attempts.

Junior libero Becky Rohlfs led the defense with 108 digs (6.75 per game), while Marschall and classmate Ashley Quisenberrry totaled 12 and 11 blocks, respectively.

Wooster returns to the court on Wednesday night (Sept. 3) at Tiffin University, with the first serve slated for 7 p.m.