Temple University Athletics
Temple University
2-1
Radford
3-2
Volleyball Beats Radford 3-1 in the Owls' First Match of the Patriot Invitational
9.6.13 | Women's Volleyball
FAIRFAX, Va. - With double-double efforts from both Emily Carlin and Gabriella Matautia, the Temple volleyball team defeated Radford 3-1 in its first match of the Patriot Invitational at George Mason University. Temple won the match by scores of 25-22, 25-19, 23-25 and 25-21.
Matautia added 15 digs to a match-best 23 kills, while Carlin recorded 11 digs to go with 17 kills. Freshman Caroline Grattan tallied her first double-digit kill effort of her collegiate career with 10 kills.
Sandra Sydlik dished up 50 assists, while Alyssa Drachslin was the team leader in digs with 17.
"It was pretty competitive match from the get-go," said Temple head coach Bakeer Ganes. "It was a team effort. The way we play, we don't have individuals stick out, but that said, we did have some strong performances. Gabby had another very good match on offense and defense as well, and dug some tough balls for us. Emily came out and was very steady and did a good job for us on offense."
For Carlin, the match had some added pressure as she faced her former team. Carlin transferred to Temple in January, 2013, after playing for three seasons with the Highlanders.
"I was a little bit nervous in the beginning," she said, " but it went really well. I played like I would play any other team. It was nice to see old faces, but I really treated it like any other match. What I felt was that I'm really happy to be at Temple and there is no second-guessing."
The first set was a tight one up til the end, with the last of four ties coming at 20-20. Matautia had two kills in the closing run, and Elyse Burkert served up an ace to put Temple ahead 1-0 for the match.
The Owls took an early lead and held it throughout the second set, out-hitting Radford .310 to .094 in what was Temple's most efficient set of the match.
The third set saw 16 ties as the teams stayed neck-and-neck the whole way. After the final tie at 23-23, an error on Temple followed by a kill for Radford's Rachel Wiechecki gave the Highlanders their only set win of the match. Temple responded with a solid victory in the fourth set, leading by a small margin most of the way and holding tough at the end. Matautia knocked down six kills in the final set, including one for the final point of the match.
"From last weekend, we worked hard in practice and we brought that to the game today," said Matautia. "We adjusted in the middle of the match to become more successful, and we did a great job working together and staying at the same intensity throughout the whole game."
The Owls will play two more matches on Saturday against Coppin State at 3:00 p.m. and host George Mason at 7:00 p.m.
"We have two matches tomorrow, and we look at it as two opportunities to get better," said Ganes. "Coppin State is underrated. They took GMU to four sets today. They're very scrappy and they don't give up. Great effort and attitude. That will be a tough match-up for us. George Mason looks pretty good. So far they look to me like the strongest team in the tournament."
