HOUSTON – Chelsea Grant, who was named as the Southland Conference's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, leads the Lamar University volleyball team into the first of eight matches away from McDonald Gym when the Cardinals face Rice Tuesday night at 6 o'clock at Tudor Fieldhouse.
 
Grant was named player of the week after her efforts that also netted her Lamar Invitational Most Valuable Player honors.  She led all tournament players in blocks (15) and blocks per set (1.50), and was the leader of a front wall that accounted for 29 total blocks through the three-match event.
 
The junior's best performance was in what ended up being the championship match against Marist on Saturday with seven total rejections, two were solo. Grant only got better as the tournament went on after knocking down three attacks in the season opener and five in the second match against UAB.
 
Offensively, she was a force too ranking in the top 10 among tourney players in kills (26) and kills per set (2.60), only behind Cortney Moore at 29 and 2.90, respectively, on the team.
 
Heading into the Rice match, the Cardinals (3-0) are out to the best start they've seen since 2001, when the program jumped out to a 6-0 start with only straight-set wins. Rice enters the match after a successful 2-1 weekend at the University of Texas Tournament, in which it went 2-1 with wins over LSU and California-Irvine.
 
"Midweek is hard coming off of a weekend tournament.  On one day's rest after playing three, you have practice and then go play," said Edwards. "After it is done, you have only a couple of days before you play in another big tournament with four matches."
 
Rice finished last season with a 23-10 record overall and 11-5 mark in Conference-USA play, good enough for fourth. It returned preseason all-conference picks Chelsey Harris and Leah Mikesky, who lead the Owls in kills through the first three matches.
 
"Rice is going to be good and they are always talented. They are going to have a very high volleyball I.Q.," said Edwards. "We didn't play them, but we saw them in the spring.  They are big, strong and physical.  They have good ball control."
 
Harris averages 3.67 kills per set and Mikesky sits at 3.50 a set, and Protia Okafor leads the way with a .474 hitting percentage.  Okafor leads with 0.92 blocks a set and has 20 kills on the year.
 
Rice's setter Madison McDaniel was named as the league's Setter of the Week after accounting for 123 assists in 12 sets, including two matches with 50 more dishes. Against LSU, she registered a 50-assist, 23-dig double-double.
 
The two programs have met 21 times, and Rice holds a 13-8 edge over LU.  The last time LU won was in 1997, four matches ago, at Rice.
 
"Historically that is a really good program, and still is a really good one.  It's going to be a chance for us to step on the court and play somebody that has been one step ahead of us for the past five or six years," said Edwards. "We will be see wear we measure up heading into the weekend at Texas State."
 
Including Grant, LU has a trio up front that dominated the Lamar Invitational with Moore and freshman Tomar Thomas. All three were named to the all-tournament team. Moore ranked second among tournament players in kills per set (2.90) and Thomas ranked second in hitting percentage (.400) after putting down 21 kills and only three errors in 45 attempts.
 
After the contest at Rice, Lamar will turn its sights to the Delta Zeta Classic hosted by Texas State.  The Cardinals will take on Indiana, Texas State, Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern in that that tournament.