Volleyball Comeback Attempt Falls Just Short in Five Sets at Penn

Friday, September 4

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

Temple University

1-3

Penn

1-0

Temple

Penn

Volleyball Comeback Attempt Falls Just Short in Five Sets at Penn

9.4.09 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Owls come back from a 2-0 deficit only to lose 16-14 in set five at the Big 5 Tournament

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple volleyball team nearly pulled off an impressive comeback in its first match of the Big 5 Tournament, but ultimately fell in the fifth set to Penn (1-0) by a score of 16-14.

The Owls (1-3) lost the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-23, but came back to win the third set 25-17 and the fourth 25-22. Temple looked to be well on its way to rallying all the way back for a win with a 14-12 lead in the fifth set, but a service error followed by two aces from the Quakers gave Penn match point, and Penn won its season opener after an attack error by Temple on the final point.

The fifth-set rally was not a first for Penn, who won the second set by erasing a 20-14 Temple lead and then using a 6-0 run to end the set.

Yun Yi Zhang led the Owls with a double-double of a match-high 27 kills along with 11 digs, and Jackie Morrison also notched a double-double with 47 assists and 15 digs.

Three players tallied double figures in kills for Penn, and four recorded double figures in digs. Penn libero Madi Wojciechowski made some critical defensive saves to help her team pull out the win, and finished with a match-high 23 digs.

The Owls finished with the edge in hitting percentage, .250 to .187, as well as a 14-7 advantage in blocks, but extra aces, kills and digs made the difference for the Quakers.

Temple will have a quick turnaround before its next match in the tournament, playing at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday against La Salle. The Owls will go on to face Villanova at 1:30 p.m.