Volleyball Closes Regular Season with Win at UConn

Friday, November 24

Storrs, Conn.

1:00 PM

Temple University

19-9,15-5American

UConn

11-21,4-16American

Temple

UCONN

Photo by: Carli Showmaker

Volleyball Closes Regular Season with Win at UConn

11.24.17 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

STORRS, Conn. -- The Temple volleyball team closed the 2017 regular season with a 3-2 win on the road at UConn's Gamel Pavilion on Friday afternoon. Temple grabbed the victory with set scores of 25-18, 26-24, 20-25, 24-26, 15-12 to move to 19-9 overall 15-5 in The American. The Owls will now await their postseason fate, which will be decided Sunday night.

KEYS TO THE MATCH
> Temple won the first two sets, before UConn battled back to tie the match at 2-2.
> The Owls played from behind most of the fifth set, until two kills from Izzy Rapacz and a block from Rapacz and Simmons gave the Owls the lead for good.
> Temple hit just .169, but held UConn to a .115 attack, including a -.034 clip in the deciding frame.
> The Owls recorded 16 blocks, their most of the season against a conference opponent.

INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
> Rapacz finished her afternoon with a double-double of 19 kills and 18 digs, also adding six blocks.
> Redshirt freshman Dana Westfield racked up 11 kills.
> Junior Iva Deak had 10 kills without an error, adding nine blocks in the win.
> Senior Janine Simmons finished with nine kills and seven blocks.
> Senior Kyra Coundourides also had a double-double, ending with 47 assists and 14 digs, adding four blocks.
> Junior Mia Heirakuji led the Temple defense with 31 digs.
> Senior Dara Peric added 11 digs, while freshman Averi Salvador had 10.

SET ONE: Temple 25, UConn 18
> Temple broke a 3-3 tie with four straight points to go up 7-3.
> The Owls led 9-4 before UConn rallied to tie it at 12-12.
> Temple scored four straight to get the lead back to 16-12 and later went up 20-15.
> UConn got as close as 20-17, but Temple finished it out with a 5-1 run.

SET TWO: Temple 27, UConn 25
> The set featured 18 ties and four lead changes, but in the end, Temple came out on top.
> Tied as late as 7-7, the Owls went up 11-8 after kills and a combined block from Rapacz and Deak.
> UConn rallied to tie it at 12-12 and later went up 17-15.
> Temple battled back to take a slim lead, but the Huskies again tied it at 22-22.
> From there, the match was tied five more times before settling on 27-27.
> Temple was able to get the final two points on an UConn attack error and a Deak kill.

SET THREE: UConn 25, Temple 20
> Temple opened the frame 3-0 and led 9-5 early.
> UConn rallied to go ahead 17-15 forcing a Temple timeout.
> Temple tied the set at 18-18, but UConn closed it out on a 7-2 run.

SET FOUR: UConn 26, Temple 24
> UConn led 8-4 early in the frame, and took their largest lead at 16-7.
> Temple used a 6-2 run to cut it to 18-13 before the Huskies called TO.
> The Owls scored two-straight out of the break to make it 18-15, but UConn got back-to-back points to make it 20-15.
> Temple made it a one-point set at 20-19, but back-to-back UConn kills put them up 22-19.
> Temple came all the way back to tie it 24-24, but UConn got the final two to make it 26-24.

SET FIVE: Temple 15, UConn 12
> Temple fell behind 0-3 and 6-4 to start the fifth.
> The Owls rallied to tie it at 8-8 and later 9-9.
> Temple then got a Rapacz kill and a block from Rapacz and Simmons to go up 11-9.
> UConn cut it to 11-10, 12-11, and 13-12, before Temple got the final two points on a block from Deak and Coundourides and a UConn error.