Volleyball Sweeps Rutgers for Fifth Straight Win; Owls Now 6-1 in the American Athletic Conference

Sunday, October 20

McGonigle Hall

1:00 PM

Temple University

15-4, 6-1American

Rutgers

4-17, 0-7American

Rutgers

Temple

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Volleyball Sweeps Rutgers for Fifth Straight Win; Owls Now 6-1 in the American Athletic Conference

10.20.13 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Gabriella Matautia and Tyler Davis knocked down 10 kills apiece to lead Temple volleyball to its second straight sweep and fifth straight win, 3-0 over Rutgers (4-17, 0-7) on Sunday afternoon. The Owls (15-4, 6-1) won by scores of 25-18, 25-16 and 25-23 to complete their homestand with an unblemished record.

Alyssa Drachslin finished the weekend averaging an impressive 8.33 digs per set, after recording 28 in a sweep of UConn and 22 in the sweep of Rutgers. Sandra Sydlik notched her second double-double in a row with 10 digs to go with 25 assists, and she also served up five aces.

"It was good for us to finish in three," said Temple head coach Bakeer Ganes, "because we've been working on finishing matches especially when we're up 2-0. This was not an easy match. Rutgers place a different pace than we prefer, so we had some difficulty maintaining our pace."

"It was our goal coming into this homestretch (to stay undefeated)," said Ganes. "It's so tough to win on the road in this conference, so we wanted to have a little bit of a cushion after this homestand."

After four early ties in the first set, the Owls trailed 12-11 before using a 6-0 run to pull ahead for good. Sydlik served up an impressive four straight aces in the run, and Matautia finished the set with six kills and zero errors as the Owls won 25-18.

Temple led for the entire second set, out-hitting Rutgers .267 to .083. The Owls served up four more aces in the 25-16 win, and got 11 digs from Drachslin in the second set alone. Elyse Burkert recorded four second-set kills including one to give Temple set-point, and Drachslin ended the set with an ace.

The final set was the closest of the three, but the Owls still held a lead the entire way after a sixth tie at 11-11. Davis recorded six third-set kills to keep Temple on top. The Scarlet Knights made a run by fighting off three match points at the end, but Matautia, who had also given the Owls match-point with a kill, eventually ended the match with a kill as well.

"We wanted to finish this home stretch at 5-0," said Matautia, "and at the end we knew we were right there and just had to get it together and focus. We settled a little bit, and no team is going to lay down and give it to us. We have to take it, and that's how we finished."

Temple's homestand is now over, and the Owls will play their next two matches on the road at UCF and USF next weekend.