Temple University Athletics
Temple University
22-8, 13-5AAC
SMU
24-6, 13-5AAC
SMU Upends Volleyball, 3-1
11.23.14 | Women's Volleyball
HOUSTON, Texas — Temple Volleyball dropped a hard-fought match on the road at conference-rival, SMU, closing out the team's last travel weekend of the season with a 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 29-27) loss. The Owls and the Mustangs are now tied for second in the conference with 13-5 records, with Temple at 22-8 overall and SMU at 24-6.
Head Coach Bakeer Ganes knew the team would have to play at a high level in order to beat SMU. "SMU is one of the top teams in the conference, they're a complete team in that they perform at a high level in every aspect of the game," he noted. "They make so few errors that our margin for error was small."
Freshman Izzy Rapacz led the Owl attack with a career-high 13 kills, while classmate Dara Peric added nine kills and 20 digs for a double-double. Junior Sandra Sydlik picked up 38 assists in the match, while sophomores Kirsten Overton and Tyler Davis each added seven kills. Leading the defense, senior Jennifer Iacobini had 13 blocks, while Davis had 25 digs and junior Alyssa Drachslin added 23.
SMU held the lead through much of the first set, until three attack errors from the Mustangs and kills from Izzy Rapacz and Davis gave the Owls a 17-15 lead. SMU stormed back, however, closing out the set on a 10-1 surge to grab the 25-18 win. The Owls recorded seven hitting errors in the first set, hitting just .093, while SMU attacked at a .244 clip.
Temple stormed back in the second set, leading from start to finish, and holding SMU to just a .093 hitting percentage. The Owls opened with a 4-0 advantage, which grew to 15-7 after four-straight blocks that were assisted by Iacobini. Temple led 20-14 before SMU battled back to make it 20-17 on a Caroline Young kill, but the Owls closed out the 25-20 set win to tie the match at 1-1.
It was SMU that got off to the hot start in the third set, as the Mustangs went up 6-1 quickly. Temple cut the lead to 11-7 on a serve error, but SMU continued to roll, opening a 21-13 lead on hot hitting from the outside. Temple whittled the lead to 22-17 on a Davis kill, but SMU held on to post a 25-19 set win.
SMU stayed hot at the start of the fourth set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead on three early attack errors from the Owls. Temple was able to battle back to take a 19-16 lead after a kill from Sydlik, and the Owls led as late as 24-23. SMU spoiled match point for Temple and the Owls returned the favor several times, but SMU finally strung together a Janelle Giordano kill and a Temple attack error to grab the 29-27 win to seal the 3-1 match victory.
"Obviously we're disappointed in the losses this weekend, but we're a young team and this is good experience to compete against a pair of veteran teams," added Ganes. "It was a good weekend in terms of team development and I think we played well through both matches, so it's a really good sign for us."
The Owls will now return home for a pair of matches, closing out the season with Tulane on Wednesday and Houston on Friday.
Box Score (PDF)
