Temple University Athletics
Temple University
17-10, 8-7
Rutgers
5-24, 1-14
Volleyball Falls in Four Sets at Rutgers
11.22.13 | Women's Volleyball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Despite sweeping Rutgers in the first meeting between the teams last month, Temple volleyball was not able to repeat that performance the second time around. The Scarlet Knights (5-24, 1-14) defeated the Owls (17-10, 8-7) in four sets on Friday night, by scores of 25-15, 23-25, 25-16 and 25-23.
Elyse Burkert led the Owls with 12 kills, and Alyssa Drachslin tallied a team-best 19 digs. Tyler Davis added eight digs to eight kills for Temple, and Jennifer Iacobini knocked down six kills while committing just a single error. Tiffany Connatser recorded a match-bets 32 assists while also finishing with eight digs and two blocks.
Rutgers had three players with double figures in kills and also three with double figures in digs, led by Alex Lassa with a double-double of 16 kills to go with 15 digs.
The first set was a struggle for Temple throughout, as the kills just did not fall. The Owls rebounded well from their lackluster performance, more than doubling their kills from the first set to the second on their way to a 25-23 win.Â
Burkert recorded half of her kills in the second set, and committed no errors. Her final kill of the set gave Temple two set points at 24-22, and after the Scarlet Knights got one back with a kill by Lassa, the Owls got a set-winning kill from Gabriella Matautia.
Unfortunately for Temple, the momentum did not stay on the Owls' side in the third set. Errors plagued Temple throughout the set, as the Owls fell into an early hole and could not recover.
Once again, Temple rallied from a bad set to pick up the pace, but fell just short in what was a very tight set with seven ties and five lead changes. Down 23-19, the Owls rallied with three straight points to get within one, 23-22. After Rutgers reached 24, Matautia fought off one match-point with a kill before Lassa was able to put down the match-winning kill for the Scarlet Knights.
Temple will play its final road match of the season on Sunday, Nov. 24 at UConn at 2:00 p.m. Next week, the Owls will return home to play USF and UCF in their final two games of the year.
