Volleyball Records its 11th Sweep of the Season With a 3-0 Win Over Charlotte

Saturday, October 27

McGonigle Hall

7:00 PM

Temple University

16-9, 6-5 A-10

Charlotte

10-13, 2-9 A-10

Charlotte

Temple

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Volleyball Records its 11th Sweep of the Season With a 3-0 Win Over Charlotte

10.27.12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - With it's 11th sweep of the season, Temple volleyball took out visiting Charlotte by scores of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-19 in McGonigle Hall on Friday night. Three players recorded double figures in kills for the Owls (16-9, 6-5), led by Gabriella Matautia with a double-double of 13 kills and 15 digs.

Also notching a double-double was Tiffany Connatser with 11 digs to go with 35 assists. Elyse Burkert recorded 13 kills with just two errors along with eight digs, and Chelsea Tupuola tied for match-high honors with 15 digs. Annemarie Boehm had her best outing of the season for Temple with 11 kills, a hitting percentage of .562 and four blocks. Caitlin McMillen also recorded four blocks for the Owls.

"I thought it was a really balanced performance on our side," said Temple head coach Bakeer Ganes. "We had Annemarie probably having her best match all season long. She did a great job on offense and blocking, and eight blocks as a team is a great number for us especially because we were undersized. Our outside hitters really had a hard time yesterday and they could have easily crumbled today but they came out with the right attitude. They passed the ball exceptionally well and had great success on the offense.

"I really think Gabby, when she's on, nobody can stop her. On the right side there's probably only a few in the conference who are better than her. If she's on like that it really takes a lot of pressure off others. I'm very happy about our performance and it was really good to see how the team came out tonight and proved that we could still play together as a team and beat teams. This a crucial win for us and keeps us in the hunt for the playoffs. Overall, splitting matches this weekend is a great success for us."

Temple led for almost the entire first set, getting out to a 5-2 early lead and never looking back. The Owls knocked down 12 kills to the 49ers eight, and limited their errors while Charlotte struggled. Matautia recorded four kills and a block in the set as Temple won, 25-14.

The Owls hit even more efficiently in the second set with 16 kills and four errors on 39 attempts for a percentage of .308, while Charlotte hit .150 for the set. The teams were neck-and-neck early on with six ties and four lead changes, but after the sixth tie at 11-11, the Owls began to pull away. They came on strong at the end with three kills in the final four points, with the final two points coming on kills by Boehm.

The third set started much like the second, and also saw its final tie at 11-11. The Owls pulled well ahead at 17-12, but the 49ers made it a battle with four straight points. The score was still close with Temple up by two at 21-19, but the Owls closed out the set and the match with four straight points including a kill from Boehm and two from Burkert. Both players were impressive in the third set as Burkert finished with seven kills to just one error, and Boehm had six kills with a single error.

Temple has three regular-season matches remaining, and will be on the road next weekend. The Owls will first play at Saint Louis on Friday, Nov. 2 at 8:00 p.m. (EST).