Temple University Athletics
Temple University
Cincinnati
Volleyball Begins American Athletic Conference Play on the Road at Cincinnati and Louisville
9.26.13 | Women's Volleyball
Live Stats l Live Stream (Cincinnati)
Live Stats l Live Stream (Louisville)
Weekend Video Preview (Coach Ganes and Gabby Matautia)
PHILADELPHIA - The start of the American Athletic Conference season has arrived for Temple volleyball, and the Owls are on the road at Cincinnati and Louisville for their opening weekend of league play. Temple, at 9-3 overall, has the best record of all the American teams at the conclusion of the non-conference season.
For live stats and live streams of this weekend's games, click the links above or the links on the volleyball schedule page.
Temple begins conference play on Friday, Sept. 27 with a 7:00 p.m. game at Cincinnati. On Sunday, Sept. 29, the Owls will play at Louisville at 2:00 p.m. Following this short two-game road stretch, Temple returns home for five straight league games.
The Owls had a seven-match win streak early in the season, and recently went 2-1 at their own Temple Invitational with sweeps of both Delaware State and Brown. Gabriella Matautia and Sandra Sydlik were both named to the All-Tournament Team. The honor was one of many for both players so far this season.
The duo were also named to the All-Tournament Team at the University at Buffalo Invite on the first weekend of the season. The following week, Matautia was named MVP and Best Attacker at the George Mason Patriot Invitational, while Sydlik was named Best Setter. Matautia went on to earn Most Valuable Opposite honors the next week at the Penn Invitational.
Matautia is leading the Owls with 3.79 kills/set and is also one of the defensive leaders with 2.64 digs/set. Her kills per set average is second among all players in the conference, while her 4.37 points/set leads the league and ranks in the top 60 nationally.
Sydlik and Tiffany Connatser are averaging 9.51 and 9.50 assists/set, respectively. Alyssa Drachslin has 177 digs to lead the Owls (3.93 digs/set) and Jennifer Iacobini has 42 blocks to lead the team (0.95 blocks/set). Her 17 service aces are also a team best, and rank second in the American Athletic Conference.
About Cincinnati...
The Bearcats are still looking for their first win of the season, having gone 0-13 so far. Three of their losses have been against nationally-ranked opponents. Ciara Hill leads the team with 2.47 kills/set.
About Louisville...
The Cardinals are 4-6 so far and come into the first weekend of conference play with two straight wins. Louisville was ranked in the AVCA Top 20 to start the season, after going 30-4 last year and advancing to the NCAA Second Round. The Cardinals lost four of their top six point-scorers from that squad, but return top seniors Brooke Mattingly and Emily Juhl. Both are among four players averaging over 2.00 kills/set so far this season.
