Temple University Athletics
Temple University
18-10, 9-7American
Connecticut
13-18, 4-12American
Volleyball Sweeps UConn for a Second Time This Season
11.24.13 | Women's Volleyball
STORRS, Conn. - Strong hitting and blocking were both on display for Temple volleyball as the Owls (18-10, 9-7) swept UConn (13-18, 4-12) for a second time this season, this time winning on the road by scores of 25-18, 25-21, and 25-20.
Elyse Burkert and Sandra Sydlik both notched double-doubles for Temple. Burkert added an impressive match-best 19 digs to 12 kills, while Sydlik added 11 digs to 35 assists.
Gabriella Matautia knocked down a match-best 17 kills, and both her and Burkert hit over .400 for the match, as did Jennifer Iacobini with eight kills and only a single error along with a match-best four blocks. Alyssa Drachslin was key in the back row for the Owls, finishing with 17 digs.
The Owls found success in their blocking game much more so than in recent matches, and in the first set they committed just two hitting errors themselves while helping force 12 errors on the Huskies.
Temple trailed by five points early in the set before coming back to tie the score at 12, and then began to pull away. Matautia recorded two kills in the Owls' final three points, including the set-winning kill as Temple won, 25-18.
The Owls led by just a point at 19-18 in the second set before a strong closing run. Matautia and Iacobini each knocked down two kills to get Temple from 19 points to 24 points, and then teamed up for a block assist for the set-winning point. As a team, Temple out-hit UConn .342 to .243 in the second set, and the Owls won 25-21.
There were four early ties in the third set before Temple began to pull away. Down 12-11, the Owls used a 5-1 run to take a 16-13 lead, and they held that lead the rest of the way.Â
Temple will return home for its final two matches of the year next week, facing USF on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 7:00 p.m. and UCF on Friday, Nov. 29 at 7:00 p.m.
