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Sports

Farmer shines, UH advances in tourney

Cougars sweep Rice 3-0 in first round of C-USA Tournament

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

The pressure was on when Houston faced crosstown rival Rice in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament on Thursday evening, but this thought never registered in the mind of Houston sophomore outside hitter Justine Farmer. 

Farmer turned in arguably her best clutch performance of the season, powering home 28 kills and 16 digs to lead the No. 7-seeded Cougars to a three-game sweep (30-27, 30-28, 30-23) over the No. 10-seeded Owls at Hofheinz Pavilion. Houston (18-14) advances to the quarterfinals to play the No. 2 seed and defending tournament champion Marshall at 5 p.m. today at Hofheinz Pavilion.

Farmer--s 28 kills were a career high for a three-game match, and combined with 16 digs, increased her Conference-leading double-double total to 22. Farmer--s .429 attack percentage was also a marked improvement from her hitting performance in last weekend--s road matches against Tulsa (.000) and Southern Methodist (-.032).

"I had a bad (outing) last weekend, and I (decided) to just play like myself," Farmer said. "I had that mindset today, and I just came out and played like myself."

Farmer--s presence was felt early and often in the match as she guided Houston to its first three-game sweep of Rice (12-19) since Nov. 3, 1999. She notched 12 kills in the first game, propelling Houston to a come-from-behind 30-27 victory. She produced another 11 crucial kills to help the Cougars overcome a sluggish start and escape with a two-point victory and take a 2-0 lead into the halftime break.

"Justine was fired up and ready play," head coach Bill Walton said. "She really forced the other team to not sit on one (aspect of her game); she killed balls down the line, she had roll shots, she hit angle (shots), she had tips, and put the ball straight down the floor. 

"The key was the couple times we got her (matched up) with one blocker, and she put the ball right on the floor, which is what you--ve got to do."

Houston will need the same tenacity and precision from Farmer in order to get past Marshall (20-10), which has defeated the Cougars in their last three meetings. The Thundering Herd will feature one of the C-USA--s most dangerous offensive threats in junior outside hitter Kelly-Anne Billingy, who leads the NCAA with 6.53 kills per game. 

In order for Houston to advance to the semifinals and keeps its NCAA Tournament hopes alive, the team will have to figure out a way to keep Billingly from dominating the match.

"The challenge of playing Marshall is Billingy," Walton said. "We--re going to try to match up (freshman middle blocker) Erin (Rice) against her in the front row and see if we can block her. We--ll see if we can slow her down with some good blocking."

Houston students can attend today--s match and all other tournament matches for free by showing a student ID upon entrance.

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