Volleyball Loses 3-1 at Butler in Final Road Match of the Regular Season

Sunday, November 4

Indianapolis, Ind.

12:00 PM

Temple University

17-10, 7-6

Butler

16-11, 6-7

Temple

Butler

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Volleyball Loses 3-1 at Butler in Final Road Match of the Regular Season

11.4.12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - After rallying to win the third set and stay alive against Butler, the Temple volleyball team ultimately lost 3-1 to the Bulldogs on the road on Sunday afternoon. Butler (16-11, 6-7) won by scores of 25-14, 25-19, 20-25 and 25-8. The Owls fall to 17-10 overall and 7-6 in the Atlantic 10. They likely need to win their final regular season match against La Salle at home next Friday to earn a berth in the six-team Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Hitting errors plagued Temple throughout the match, as Butler's strength at the net resulted in 17 blocks compared to four for the Owls.

"I think was a tough one," said head coach Bakeer Ganes. "It hurts because we didn't perform well. We just didn't come out well. Butler had a good game plan but it's not so much what they did, it's what we didn't do. It's disappointing, but it happens, and we just have to see what went wrong, and regroup. We'll work on those things and be ready for next Friday against La Salle."

Gabriella Matautia led Temple with 17 kills, while Elyse Burkert notched a double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs. Both Chelsea Tupuola and Tiffany Connatser recorded 14 digs, with Connatser also tallying 34 assists.

Temple never quite got going in either the first or second sets, falling behind early in each and trailing throughout. Needing a win to stay alive in the third set, the Owls came up with 17 kills to Butler's 12. They jumped out to a 5-1 lead and went on to lead by as many as eight at 17-9. The Bulldogs closed to within four on a few occasions, the last at 24-20 before a Burkert kill ended the set in favor of Temple.

The fourth set saw Butler's most efficient hitting and Temple's least efficient hitting, as the Bulldogs used a run midway through to put the set and match away.

Temple will play its final match of the regular season next Friday, Nov. 9 against La Salle at 5:00 p.m., and will honor three seniors for Senior Day.