Volleyball Sweeps USF in American Athletic Conference Action

Sunday, October 5

Tampa, Fla.

Noon

Temple University

11-5, 2-2

USF

8-8, 2-2

Temple

USF

Volleyball Sweeps USF in American Athletic Conference Action Image

Tyler Davis

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Volleyball Sweeps USF in American Athletic Conference Action

10.5.14 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score

TAMPA - The Temple volleyball team used a dominating offensive performance to earn a 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-20) sweep over USF in American Athletic Conference action on the road on Sunday. The Owls (11-5, 2-2) posted their first ever win in 11 meetings with the Bulls (8-8, 2-2), hitting .364 with just eight errors in the match.

"It was a great win, but more importantly, it was a good bounce back performance," said Temple head coach Bakeer Ganes. "[Against UCF], we lacked consistency, so it's good to see the players understand what we are trying to do. We've been playing like this in practice, but wanted to show the conference how we can play."

Kirsten Overton, Dara Peric, and Tyler Davis all recorded 10 kills each for Temple, with Overton's .692 hitting percentage leading the charge. Halle McCullough (9 kills) and Jennifer Iacobini (7 kills) also bolstered the attack, while Sandra Sydlik dished out 39 assists. Defensively, Alyssa Drachslin had 12 digs and Malia Smith added 10. Iacobini, Davis, and Overton all posted five blocks in the win.

Temple jumped out to a 6-1 advantage in the first set and didn't relinquish the lead. The Owls carried a five-point edge through most of the early part, but USF battled back to within two at 10-8 after a pair of Owl attack errors. Temple rebounded with an 8-3 run, backed by strong serving from Sydlik and Drachlin, opening an 18-11 advantage. USF whittled the Owl lead down to three at 23-20, but Temple got a McCullough kill and a USF error to take the first set, 25-20.

The second set was all Temple as the Owls used an offensive burst from Davis and Peric, turning a 3-3 tie into a 10-4 lead. USF got as close as four points at 14-10, but Temple cruised down the stretch, closing out the set on an Overton swing to win it 25-14.

USF opened with an early 6-4 lead in the third set, but the Owls rebounded to tie the match at 10-10 on an Overton kill. Temple followed by opening its largest lead of the set at 18-13 on a Iacobini kill, but USF wouldn't go away. An Owl service error brought USF to within two at 21-19, but Temple closed out the set and match with a a 4-1 run, punctuated by a Peric kill that gave the Owls the 25-20 set win and 3-0 match sweep.

"We knew that we'd face some tough competition this weekend, against some good hitting and blocking teams," added Ganes. "We did some work this week in practice to focus on being aggressive in blocking and attacking and it paid off today."

Temple's .364 hitting percentage included 48 kills on 110 attempts with a season-low of eight errors. The offensive performance was the team's second best of the season, behind a .388 clip against Delaware State, but marked the Owls best hitting numbers against an American opponent this season.

The Owls are back in action with a pair of American Athletic Conference matches at home next weekend. Temple will take on Cincinnati on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and then Memphis on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.