Volleyball Splits Matches to Finish 2-1 at the Big 5 Tournament

Saturday, September 1

Philadelphia, Pa.

4:00 PM

Temple University

4-3

La Salle

1-6

La Salle

Temple

Volleyball Splits Matches to Finish 2-1 at the Big 5 Tournament Image

Tiffany Connatser

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Volleyball Splits Matches to Finish 2-1 at the Big 5 Tournament

9.1.12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Owls fall 3-2 to Villanova before sweeping La Salle in straight sets

PHILADELPHIA (Palestra) – The day was a split for Temple volleyball as the Owls dropped a heartbreaker, 3-2 to Villanova, but rebounded with a 3-0 sweep of La Salle to finish with a 2-1 record at the 2012 Big 5 Tournament. Temple still has a chance to be the tournament champion, depending on the outcome of tonight's match between Penn and Villanova.

The Owls (4-3) defeated La Salle (1-6) by scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-12. Tiffany Connatser recorded her second double-double of the day with 36 assists and a team-high 13 digs, while Elyse Burkert also recorded her second double-double with a match-best 12 kills and 12 digs.

Annemarie Boehm had a strong match with seven kills and zero errors, while also recording an impressive match-high seven blocks. Chelsea Tupuola recorded 11 digs in the win.

In a five-set loss to Villanova (4-1), the Owls won the first set, 25-23, before dropping the next two by scores of 25-21 and 25-19. They rebounded with an exciting 26-24 win to force a fifth set, but the Wildcats took the final set by a score of 15-6.

Temple recorded a whopping 106 digs, with three players registering 20 digs or more and two others also in double figures. Jingyu Zhang led all players with 25 digs, while libero Tupuola was right there with 24 digs.

Gabriella Matautia notched a double-double with 14 kills and 20 digs, as did Burkert with a match-high 21 kills along with 14 digs. Connatser got a third double-double for the Owls with 53 assists and 17 digs.

Jennifer Iacobini had another impressive showing with nine kills and zero errors, along with a team-high five blocks and two aces.

The close first set against Villanova had 10 total ties, the last at 23-23 before a Burkert kill was followed by an Iacobini ace to put the Owls up 1-0. The second set was tied at 15-15 before Villanova pulled ahead, and the Wildcats' Krista Andersen put down two kills in the final three points.

Villanova turned it on even more in the third set, out-hitting Temple .359 to .167. The Owls were down 18-11 before rattling off four straight points. Temple trailed by just two at 20-18 but scored just one point the rest of the way.

The fourth set was the tightest of the match with 14 ties. The Owls nearly let the win slip away after holding a 24-21 lead and allowing the Wildcats to fend off three set points. With the set tied at 24-24, Zhang knocked down a kill and Villanova made a hitting error to end the set in favor of Temple.

Temple committed six errors in the short final set while Villanova made just one, and the Wildcats surged ahead after an early 5-5 tie to win 15-6.

The Owls, no doubt tired just a half hour after the Villanova loss, still managed to record a 25-22 win in the first set against La Salle. There were nine ties and three lead changes, but Temple got 15 kills to La Salle's 11. Burkert recorded six of those, while Boehm had three including the one that gave the Owls set point.

Temple trailed 10-4 early in the second set but mounted a comeback, first tying the score at 13-13. After an 18-18 tie, the Owls closed the set on a 7-2 run that included three service aces from Connatser and a pair of blocks by Matautia and Boehm.

The third set was a breeze for Temple from start to finish. The Owls led 21-12 and then closed out the set and the match with four straight points.

Temple will be back in action next weekend at the Miami of Ohio Invitational, facing host Miami as well as Chicago State and Indiana State.