PHILADELPHIA -- Yue Liu and Zhen Jia Liu both tallied double doubles to lead the Temple volleyball team to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Villanova Wildcats on Wednesday night. The Owls dropped the first game 30-28 but rebounded to win the next two 30-18 and 30-21 before giving up the fourth game 30-26 and forcing a fifth game. After batting through a game where the score was tied nine different times, the Owls finally took home a 17-15 win and an overall 3-2 match victory. Temple improves to 17-9 overall and 9-2 in Conference play, while the Wildcats fall to 19-8 overall and 6-4 in the Big East.
Yue Liu posted 16 kills and 12 digs, while Zhen Jia Liu had a team-high 20 kills, with just three errors, to go along with 11 digs. Christina DeMarco and Patricia Vernon also saw double figures in kills, notching 16 and 13, respectively. Maira Mogollon dished a match-high 51 assists, bringing her season total to 1,086. Ying Sun Ling had 16 digs as Temple's libero.
Alona Cherkez led Villanova with 23 kills, while Kacy Sellers and Celine Nguyen chipped in with 10 and 11, respectively. Nguyen also had a match-high 18 digs. Jenna Link dished 48 assists to go along with 13 digs.
Temple travels to Long Island this weekend to compete in the Blackbird Challenge. The Owls take on LIU at 11 a.m. and Maryland Eastern Shore at 5 p.m.
