Volleyball Falls in a Five-Set Battle at George Washington; Four Owls Record Double-Doubles

Sunday, October 14

Washington, D.C.

1:00 PM

Temple University

14-7, 4-3 A-10

George Washington

8-13, 5-2 A-10

Temple

George Washington

Jingyu Zhang was one of four Owls with double-doubles

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Volleyball Falls in a Five-Set Battle at George Washington; Four Owls Record Double-Doubles

10.14.12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After rallying to force a fifth set, Temple volleyball ultimately fell to George Washington in an Atlantic 10 road match on Sunday afternoon. The match featured two sets that went to extra points, including a 30-28 win for GW in the third set.

Temple now stands at 14-7 overall and 4-3 in the A-10, while the Colonials improve to 8-13 overall and 5-2 in conference play.

The Owls won a neck-and-neck first set 27-25 before dropping the next two, 25-18 and 30-28. They rallied for a 25-20 win to force a fifth and final set, but lost 15-12.

Four players recorded double-doubles for Temple, led offensively by Elyse Burkert with 18 kills to go along with 17 digs. Gabriella Matautia added 20 digs to 12 kills, while Jingyu Zhang had 19 digs and 12 kills.

Tiffany Connatser recorded 48 assists with 16 digs, and Chelsea Tupuola led all players in the match with 28 digs. Matautia, Annemarie Boehm and Jennifer Iacobini each tallied seven blocks.

Temple trailed in the first set until tying the score midway through and taking a slim lead, but it was the Colonials with the first set point at 24-23. Zhang knocked down a kill to keep the Owls in it, but GW got a second set point at 25-24. Back-to-back attack errors by GW gave Temple its first set point, and that was all the Owls needed as Burkert put down a kill for the 27-25 win.

GW led nearly all the way through the second set and evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 win.

The third set was a true battle down the stretch. The Owls had set point at 24-23, but GW came up with a block to even the score and Temple had to rally from then on. The Owls fought off an impressive four set points before GW finally put it away with back-to-back kills for a 30-28 win.

Temple held a five-point lead at 22-17 in the fourth set before GW got a few back, but with a 22-20 lead the Owls got kills from Iacobini, Matautia and Burkert to put away the set and tie the match at two sets apiece.

After a 9-9 tie in the fifth set, GW recorded a string of kills and suddenly had match-point at 14-9. An attack error on the Colonials ended the run, and Matautia combined with Iacobini for a block, putting the Owls within three at 14-11. Connatser set up Matautia for a kill to narrow the margin to two, but GW's Kelsey Newman recorded her 23rd kill of the match for the winner.

The Colonials' Lauren Whyte led all players with 26 kills and also led her team with 24 digs.

The Owls will be back on the road for two matches next weekend, facing Fordham and Rhode Island.