Temple University Athletics
Temple University
9-2
Brown
4-6
Volleyball Sweeps Brown to Improve to 2-0 at the Temple Invitational; Owls Play Hofstra in the Finale at 7:00 p.m.
9.21.13 | Women's Volleyball
PHILADELPHIA - In its second sweep in as many matches of the Temple Invitational, the Owls defeated Brown (4-6) in straight sets on Saturday morning at McGonigle Hall. Temple (9-2) won by scores of 25-18, 25-23 and 25-21. Gabriella Matautia was a force for the Owls with a double-double of 18 kills and 13 digs in just three sets. She committed only two attack errors for a match-best hitting percentage of .471.
Temple continues its best start since 2001, now with a record of 9-2 overall. The Owls will close out the weekend tonight at 7:00 p.m. against Hofstra, with a reminder to fans that it is "Hawaiian Night" and leis will be given away.
"What was great to see is that we never got rattled (against Brown)," said Temple head coach Bakeer Ganes. "We were confident we could beat this team and beat them in three and confident that we could close out sets."
The Owls trailed by a couple points midway through the first set against the Bears, but after the 10th tie of the set, Matautia served during a 5-0 run that put Temple ahead for good.
Temple never trailed in the second set, but it ended up being the closest of the three. The Owls had two set points that were fought off by Brown, but finally put the set away on a kill by Matautia. She tallied more than half her overall kills in a big second set, recording 10.
Both teams displayed their best hitting of the match in the third set, but Temple took the edge with 16 kills to just a single error, while Brown committed five. The third set was a big one for Jennifer Iacobini who recorded two blocks to go with five kills on nine attempts with no errors.
Alyssa Drachslin led all players with 22 digs in the win over Brown, and Sandra Sydlik had a double-double with 37 assists and 11 digs. Tyler Davis added a match-best five blocks to six kills, and Caroline Grattan recorded nine kills for the Owls.
"It's great at this point in the season to be able not only to win but to close out in three sets," said Ganes, "and that's something we've been working on for a couple weeks now so I'm really happy because it shows we're making progress."
