Memphis Rallies Past Temple Volleyball

Sunday, October 12

McGonigle Hall

1:00 PM

Temple University

12-6, 3-3

Memphis

15-5, 5-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Memphis	15	25	25	25	3
Temple	25	22	22	18	1

Dara Peric recorded a double-double against Memphis

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Memphis Rallies Past Temple Volleyball

10.12.14 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Visiting Memphis rallied for a four-set win over Temple Volleyball, as the Tigers upended the Owls, 15-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 in American Athletic Conference action on Sunday afternoon in McGonigle Hall. The Owls fall to 12-6 overall, 3-3 in the American, while Memphis improves to 15-5, 5-1 in the American.

Temple had three players reach double-digits in kills, led by another hot-hitting performance from Tyler Davis. The sophomore recorded her third-straight match with 10 or more kills, finishing today with a career-best 17 kills. Freshman Dara Peric had 13 kills and a season-best 16 digs to record the third double-double of her career. Also for the Owls, junior Halle McCullough finished with 14 kills, while sophomore Kirsten Overton added nine. Junior Sandra Sydlik captained the offense with 46 assists, while classmate Alyssa Drachslin added 15 digs.

Davis credits her recent success with adjusting to the opponent's defense. "Mixing up shots and adjusting to what they do in their defense is really important," she said. "Our coaches work really hard on scouting the other teams and knowing where they're going to be on the court for every play, so I think taking that in and understanding what the other team is going to do on each play is really helpful."

The Owls took the first set, 25-14, turning an early 7-7 tie into an 11-8 lead on kills from Davis and McCullough. Memphis cut the Temple advantage to two at 13-11, but the Owls closed out the set with a 12-3 run, which included three more Davis kills and a big block off the hands of McCullough and senior Jennifer Iacobini.

Temple led early in the second set, holding an 11-8 lead, opening with four Davis kills and a pair from Peric. Memphis swung the momentum in its favor with five-straight points, which included back-to-back aces to take a 13-11 lead. After the teams traded sideouts, the Tigers used another significant run to open up a commanding 23-15 edge. Temple was able to rebound with six straight points to cut the lead to 23-21, and two more sideouts made it 24-22. However, Memphis closed out the set with a dump from the setter, catching Temple off guard and tying the match at 1-1.

Set three was much like the second, with Memphis gaining a significant lead midway through the action. The Tigers led 18-14 before Temple battled back to cut the lead to two (19-17) on a pair of Memphis attack errors. The visitors surged out to a 24-20 lead giving them match point, but a Davis kill and a Memphis error kepts Temple alive at 24-22. The Tigers then closed out the set on a Lauren Wright kill, to take another 25-22 win and a 2-1 match lead.

In the fourth set, Memphis held a three-point edge at 14-11 after early hitting mistakes put the Owls behind. The Tigers put together another run to push the lead to 22-13, before Temple battled back to make it 22-17 after a pair of Overton kills. Two straight points from the right side gave Memphis match point at 24-17, but a Peric kill gave Temple the serve. The momentum shift was short-lived, however, as a kill from Memphis' Kate Gibson ended the set and the match in the Tigers favor.

Head Coach Bakeer Ganes credits the lack of consistancy with Temple's struggles today. "I think Memphis did a good job of adjusting their offense, they really changed up the speed," said Ganes. "We made some adjustments that worked, but we weren't consistant enough with the adjustments we made to get out in front."

Temple continues its American Athletic Conference schedule next weeking, hitting the road for a pair of matches. The Owls will play at Houston on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and will play at Tulane on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

"We obviously have to analyze the mistakes we made, we had a bunch of unforced errors and we lacked consistancy," added Ganes. "We have to analyze those mistakes and hopefully we can work on them this week so we can be in a better position to compete next weekend."

Box Score * Post-Match Interviews