Career Highs For Matautia and Tupuola Lift Volleyball to a 3-2 Win at Saint Louis

Friday, November 2

Saint Louis, Mo.

8:00 PM

Temple University

17-9, 7-5 A-10

Saint Louis

9-18, 3-9 A-10

Temple

Saint Louis

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Career Highs For Matautia and Tupuola Lift Volleyball to a 3-2 Win at Saint Louis

11.2.12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. – Gabriella Matautia had a career night with 32 kills in leading Temple volleyball to a come-from-behind, 3-2 win on the road at Saint Louis (9-18, 3-9) on Friday night. Chelsea Tupuola was a standout defensively with a career-high 39 digs as the Owls improve to 17-9 overall and 7-5 in the Atlantic 10.

Matautia added a career-high 21 digs to her 32 kills, and Elyse Burkert also notched a double-double with 15 kills and 19 digs. Tiffany Connatser added 12 digs to a career-high 57 assists, and Jingyu Zhang knocked down 12 kills. The Owls won the match by scores of 28-30, 27-25, 15-25, 25-21 and 15-11.

Despite 10 kills from Matautia in the first set alone, the Owls ultimately came up short in a neck-and-neck battle that saw Saint Louis come out on top, 30-28. After an early 6-2 Temple lead in the set, it was close the entire rest of the way with 14 ties. The Owls made an impressive rally after being down 24-21 as Matautia and Burkert combined for three kills to even the score. Burkert soon came up with another kill to fight off the Billikens' set point at 25-24 and Matautia did the same when Temple was down 26-25.

The Owls had their own set point after an ace from Tupuola, but back-to-back SLU kills saw Temple down yet again. Matautia's 10th kill of the set fought off another set point to even the score at 28-28, but the Billikens' Megan Gilbert came up with kills on consecutive points to finally end the set in her team's favor.

Ten more kills for Matautia followed in the second set, but with a better result as the Owls pulled out the win, 27-25. There were 10 ties in the set but it was Temple with a lead of a few points most of the way. After trailing 20-17, the Billikens came back to tie it at 21-21. Two more ties followed before SLU had the first set point, but a kill for Matautia knotted the score at 24.

The Billikens responded with a kill for their second set point, but Burkert tied it up with a kill and Matautia's 20th kill of the match gave the Owls their first set point. Connatser served it up and SLU committed an error as Temple won the set to tie the match at 1-1.

After two tight sets, the third did not follow suit as Saint Louis won 25-15. It would turn out to be an anomaly for the Owls who struggled to find offense in the set.

The Owls didn't let a bad set affect them, coming right back for a 25-21 win in the fourth set when they needed it. The set was close with Temple up a point at 20-19, but the Owls finished strong with five of the last seven points including two kills from Jennifer Iacobini.

The momentum held as Temple took a 5-1 lead in the fifth set and never trailed. The Billikens pulled to within in a point at 10-9, but their own errors allowed the Owls to go back up, 13-10. A kill from Zhang soon made the score 14-11 after a SLU kill, but another kill and ace for the Billikens fought off two set points. Finally, up 14-13, the match ended in fitting fashion for the standout of the night, Matautia, who ended it with a kill.