PHILADELPHIA- Yue Liu and Zhen Jia Liu both tallied double-doubles to lead Temple to a hard fought 3-2 victory over Xavier on Friday night in Temple's McGonigle Hall. Yue Liu led Temple with 25 kills, with just eight errors, and 20 digs, while senior captain Zhen Jia Liu contributed 19 kills and 20 digs. The Owls, who are currently 8-0 on their home court, improve to 14-8 overall and 7-1 in Atlantic 10 play. Xavier is also 14-8 overall but falls to 6-2 in A-10 play. The game scores were 30-22, 28-30, 30-23, 33-35 and 15-11.
Both teams fought hard in the first game, with each taking a turn leading and then rallying to equalize. This was to set the tone for the entire match. With the score tied at 20, Temple went on a 3-0 and 4-0 run take the first set 30-22. The Musketeers led throughout most of game two and equalized making the score 1-1.
Temple took an early lead in game three but Xavier battled back to tie the score at 16, 19 and 20. TU scored five straight points to take a 28-22 lead however, and was able to hold on down the stretch for the 30-23 win.
With Temple up 2-1, all it had to do was clinch game four and the match would be over. The Musketeers had other plans, however, matching Temple point for point. With the game tied at 30, Xavier gained the next point and it looked like it would take a fifth game to decide this battle of the A-10 giants. Temple's defense rallied to tie XU on three different match points before the Owls finally gave up the 35-33 win.
Competition in game five was just as strong, with the score tied six different times before Temple was able to clinch its fourth straight win, 15-11.
Maira Mogollon dished a match-high 66 assists for Temple and Ying Sun Ling had a team-high 22 digs. Christina DeMarco continued her excellent play with 15 kills and six block assists. Patricia Vernon also earned double digit kills with 12.
The weekend of tough play is not over for Temple, as the Owls face the Dayton Flyers tomorrow at 4 p.m.
