Temple University Athletics
Temple University
11-7, 4-1A10
SAINT LOUIS
13-4, 4-1A10
Volleyball Suffers First A-10 Loss With 3-1 Defeat At Saint Louis
10.5.08 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2008
ST. LOUIS- The Temple volleyball team (11-7, 4-1 A-10) suffered its first loss in Atlantic 10 play today, falling 3-1 (18-25, 15-25, 25-22, 19-25), at Saint Louis. Junior Yun Yi Zhang led the Owls with 18 kills, while defensive specialist Ariel Pierre had 16 digs.
Jackie Morrison dished 34 assists and had four block assists, while Ashley Carr chipped in with 10 digs. In just her second match of the season, senior Patricia Vernon contributed 10 kills and a team-high six block assists.
Both teams hit over .300 in the opening set with SLU enjoying an advantage with 17 kills to Temple's 11 to claim the set. The Bills scored the first two points and never relinquished the lead. The Owls stayed within striking distance until SLU put together a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 14-7. TU only got as close as four points the rest of the way as the Billikens' lead again ballooned to seven points before the completion of the set.
The Owls scored the first two points of the second set on a Zhang kill and a block from Morrison and Jacqueline Cowden but the Billikens came roaring back with a six-point run, to regain the lead at 6-2. Temple cut the margin to two on two occasions but Saint Louis was able to hold the Owls off. With an 8-6 lead, the Bills scored the next four points for a six-point edge. SLU scored in bunches while Temple failed to score consecutive points for the rest of the set as it had eight kills and 10 hitting errors while the Bills hit .208.
After trading points with the Owls in the early part of the third set, Saint Louis fell behind when Temple put together a pair of three-point runs, fueled by three blocks from Vernon, to take the lead at 12-7.The Bills' attempts to cut into the lead failed as the Owls used three Zhang kills and a SLU hitting error to surge ahead 17-10. SLU was finally successful at put together back-to-back points as it scored three straight points and an Owl ball-handling error to cut it to 17-13. Following another Billiken hitting error, McCloud sparked a 5-0 run with two kills to knot the set at 18-18. However, Temple scored twice and then rallied with a 3-0 run to make it 23-19 and the Bills were unable to catch up. The Owls out-hit SLU .216 to .120 in the third set.
SLU scored twice to open the fourth set and never trailed in the final set.
Temple returns to action on Friday at Charlotte.
