Volleyball Swept on Day One of the South Carolina Gamecock Invitational

Friday, August 24

Columbia, SC

12:30 PM

Temple University

0-1

South Carolina

1-0

Temple

South Carolina

Elyse Burkert

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Volleyball Swept on Day One of the South Carolina Gamecock Invitational

8.24.12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Owls fall 3-0 to South Carolina and East Tennessee State

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The first day of the 2012 season did not go the way of Temple volleyball, as the Owls dropped 3-0 matches to both South Carolina (1-0) and East Tennessee State (2-0) at the Gamecock Invitational. Temple (0-2) will have two more chances to get its first win tomorrow when it faces UNC Asheville and Akron.

The Gamecocks won in the season opener over Temple by scores of 25-14, 25-15 and 25-18. Later in the day, the Owls fared better, but lost 25-14, 25-23 and 25-21 to East Tennessee State.

Gabriella Matautia led Temple with 10 kills against South Carolina, and racked up another 10 against ETSU. Chelsea Tupuola recorded a team-best 12 digs against USC, and Elyse Burkert led the Owls with 11 kills to go with nine digs vs. ETSU.

Tiffany Connatser recorded 55 total assist for the day, and led the team with 10 digs in earning a double-double in the second match.

The Gamecocks jumped out to a 5-2 early lead in the first set of the first match, and the Owls never quite recovered. South Carolina, led by Thevenin's seven kills, hit 15 kills as a team with just three errors. Matautia was strong for the Owls with five kills, only one error, and four digs.

Temple started the second set much stronger and led by as many as three points at 9-6. The teams were tied at 14-all before the Gamecocks really put the pressure on, combining four kills and three blocks in a huge run to close out the set and win 25-15.

As a team, the Owls were the most consistent in the third set with 11 total kills. They made a run after being down 19-12 to come within five, but could come no closer and lost the set 25-18.

After hitting errors plagued Temple in the opening set against ETSU, the Owls were right in the match in the second and third sets.

Down 22-16 in the second set, the Owls exploded for a 6-1 run to trail by just a point at 23-22. After an error, Temple saved one set point on a kill from Caitlin McMillen, but ETSU's Ivey Rice knocked down the set-winning kill.

The third set was close throughout and saw nine total ties, but the Bucs' 17 team kills to Temple's 13 made the difference. Kills from Matautia staved off two match points before ETSU finally put it away.

The Owls will play two more matches tomorrow, starting with a 10:00 a.m. contest vs. UNC Asheville, and Temple will conclude the tournament with a 5:00 p.m. match against Akron.