Impressive Team Hitting on Display in Volleyball’s Sweep of Chicago State

Friday, September 7

Oxford, Ohio

4:00 PM

Temple University

5-3

Chicago State

2-8

Chicago State

Temple

Elyse Burkert led Temple with 16 kills and 11 digs

Photo by: Mike Slade

Impressive Team Hitting on Display in Volleyball’s Sweep of Chicago State

9.7.12 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Owls roll over Cougars, 25-13, 25-14, 25-20

OXFORD, Ohio – Junior Elyse Burkert knocked down 16 kills and made it a double-double with 11 digs in leading Temple volleyball to a 3-0 sweep of Chicago State on the first day of the Miami (OH) Invitational. Burkert recorded only one hitting error in the entire match, finishing with an impressive hitting percentage of .556.

As a team, Temple recorded 47 kills to just five errors for an outstanding hitting percentage of .457. It is the highest team hitting percentage in a match in at least the last six years of the program, and ranks as the second-highest percentage among all Atlantic 10 teams in any match this season.

The Owls took the match by scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-20, and led by solid margins throughout the contest.

Gabriella Matautia recorded 12 kills while hitting .370. Jennifer Iacobini and Jingyu Zhang notched eight kills apiece with only one error each, and Zhang was strong on defense as well with a match-high 13 digs.

Chelsea Tupuola finished with 12 digs and Tiffany Connatser came up with 43 assists in the short match.

The Owls surged ahead early in the first set and continued to increase their lead throughout. Temple used a 9-1 run midway through the set to take a commanding, 22-11 lead. The Owls finished it off with two kills from Burkert and a set-winning kill from Matautia.

Burkert, Iacobini and Zhang finished the first set with four kills apiece while Matautia recorded three.

The second set followed in similar fashion as the Owls took a 16-12 lead all the way to a 22-13 lead. Iacobini finished off the set with her sixth kill of the contest.

Temple was as perfect as it could be in the third set with 16 kills and zero errors as a team in 28 attempts. While the final score of the set was closer than the other two, the Owls never led by fewer than four points after the score became 11-7.

Temple will play two more matches in the tournament, starting with a 1:00 p.m. match against Indiana State on Saturday. The Owls will play host Miami at 7:30 p.m.