Volleyball Sweeps Northeastern to Open Season

Friday, August 25

College Park, Md.

4:00 PM

Temple University

1-0

Northeastern

0-1

Temple

Northeastern

Photo by: Betsy Manning/Temple University

Volleyball Sweeps Northeastern to Open Season

8.25.17 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – It was a 3-0 sweep for the Temple volleyball team to open the 2017 season. The Owls topped Northeastern, 25-11, 25-18, and 25-20 to open play at the Maryland Invitational.

Keys to the Match
> Temple hit .277 as a team, including a massive .567 in the opening frame to set the tone for the match.
> The first frame saw Temple go 17-0-30, as the team opened with an 11-5 run before out-scoring Northeastern, 14-6, to close the set with a 25-11 win.
> Northeastern controlled play in the first part of the second set, opening with a 5-0 lead.
> Temple called a key timeout early in the second, and then used an 11-2 run to take an 11-7 advantage.
> The Owls didn't trail in the second from that point on, closing out the 25-18 victory.
> The third set was the closest of the afternoon, as the score stayed within a five-point different the entire set.
> Temple had the early edge, reaching 15 first, and then taking a 23-17 lead.
> Northeastern scored three in a row to close the gap to 23-20, before Temple closed the match with a Rapacz kill and a Northeastern attack error.

Individual Highlights
> Senior Izzy Rapacz notched a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs, hitting .280 with four blocks.
> Senior setter Kyra Coundourides also tallied a double-double, with 33 assists and 10 digs.
> Sophomore Dana Westfield made the most of her first collegiate action, racking up 10 kills.
> Seniors Dara Peric and Janine Simmons both added seven kills, each hitting .500 or better in the match.
> Junior Iva Deak racked up a match-best seven blocks.
> Junior Mia Heirakuji led the Owls with 12 digs and four aces.

Quotable
> "I thought we looked pretty good and we executed really well today," said Temple head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam, "At the beginning of the match we were really anxious, we knew we were on point with our training and we were ready to go. Once we got going, we had good movement on the court, our transition was excellent, and our blocking was good. We have to work on our consistency, but we overall played pretty well."

Next Up
> Temple has two more games in the Maryland Invitational, taking on both the Terrapins and UMBC tomorrow.

Box Score (PDF)