Temple University Athletics
Temple University
14-4, 5-1American
Connecticut
10-11, 1-5American
Volleyball Wins Fourth Straight Match With a Sweep of Connecticut
10.18.13 | Women's Volleyball
PHILADELPHIA - With a huge rally in the third set, Temple volleyball was able to sweep visiting UConn (10-11, 1-5) in straight sets by scores of 25-12, 25-21 and 27-25. Alyssa Drachslin recorded a career-high 28 digs to lead the Owls (14-4, 5-1) to their fourth straight win, while Gabriella Matautia led all players with 14 kills.
Temple head coach Bakeer Ganes was impressed with his team throughout the match, particularly with their third-set performance and with Drachslin's dominant display in the back row.
"We were down in the third set and made some mistakes at the beginning with our execution on the offense, and UConn made some plays. I've got to give them credit. But we knew we could still come back and the team did a really good job not giving up. Once the chance presented itself they really took advantage."
With regards to Drachslin, Ganes commented that it was "probably one of the best performances we've had in a while. Not just because of the numbers, which I think is great for her, but she did a good job communicating, taking charge of the backcourt and controlling the pace with her teammates."
Sandra Sydlik recorded her third double-double in the last three matches with 15 digs to go with 34 assists. Elyse Burkert tallied 10 kills, and Kirsten Overton added five blocks to seven kills.
Matautia and Jennifer Iacobini also had four blocks apiece for the Owls, and Iacobini recorded six kills as well with only a single error.
Burkert recorded six kills on nine attempts with no errors in leading the Owls to a 25-12 win in the first set. With 15 kills to UConn's nine, the Owls led by a wide margin most of the way.
The second set was tighter down the stretch, but still the Owls never trailed. Matautia came on strong with seven kills in the second set alone, and knocked down two of those for Temple's final three points to win the set 25-21.
Down 17-11 in the third set, Iacobini served through a 5-0 run as Temple came back to within a point at 17-16. The Owls again trailed by three at 22-19 and 23-20 before rallying yet again. Kills by Caroline Grattan and Matautia helped the Owls tie the score at 23-23, and they had match-point after a UConn error.
The Huskies would ultimately fight off two match points before Overton gave Temple a third, and in a rare feat, Drachslin dug a ball over the net that went untouched for a kill to end the match.
Temple will go for its fifth straight win on Sunday at home, facing Rutgers at 1:00 p.m.
