Volleyball Sweeps USF for Seventh Straight Win

Friday, November 7

McGonigle Hall

7:00 PM

Temple University

18-6, 9-3

USF

10-14, 4-8

USF

Temple

Junior Halle McCullough had a team-best 13 kills

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Volleyball Sweeps USF for Seventh Straight Win

11.7.14 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple volleyball team notched its seventh straight victory, sweeping USF at home on Friday night, 25-23, 25-18, and 25-21. The Owls move to 19-6 overall, with a 10-3 mark in the American Athletic Conference. USF dips to 10-15, 4-9 in the American.

The Owls saw strong play from the middle with junior Halle McCullough and sophomore Kirsten Overton combining for 23 kills and six blocks. McCullough recorded 13 winners, hitting .375, while Overton notched 10 kills and hit .471. Sophomore Tyler Davis had nine kills, while senior Jennifer Iacobini posted six kills and three blocks. Junior setter Sandra Sydlik reached her team-leading 15th double-double of the season with 39 assists and 10 digs, while junior Alyssa Drachslin anchored the defense with 11 digs.

USF was the first to 15 in set one, taking an early lead by capitalizing on five attack errors from the hosts. The Bulls continued to gain momentum, using a 7-1 run to open up a 22-15 advantage. Temple answered with two straight points to make it 22-17 before an Erin Fairs kill put USF up 23-17. That would be the last of the scoring for the Bulls in set one, as Temple scored the final eight points to take the 25-23 win. Drachslin was on the line during the final Temple surge, with McCullough putting down four kills and Iacobini adding two blocks to close it out.

Head Coach Bakeer Ganes credited the first-set comeback to the team focusing on fundamentals. "Usually a team isn't able to come back like that, so I'm very happy," he said. "We had to slow down the pace a little, make them go back to the basics, and we started moving better on the court and we were able to pull it out."

Ganes added that the team's confidence when playing down has come from being able to rebound in situations like that in the past. "So far in this season, we've been able to master some challenges – coming out on top of the matchess where we've been down," he added. "So we never had the feeling that we were completely out of it."

Set two stayed close, with the stanza being tied 10 times in total. USF edged out to a late 17-15 lead, but Temple responded with a 10-1 run to close out the set at 25-18. Davis, McCullough, and Overton all had three kills in the set, putting Temple up 2-0 in the match.

The Owls never trailed in set three, leading from the first to the 25th point to seal the sweep. Temple opened up with a 5-0 lead, which included three straight Overton kills. USF brought the Owls advantage back down to three at 8-5, but Temple surged out to a commanding 19-14 lead. USF cut the lead to two, at 23-21, but Temple closed out the set and match with a Dara Peric kill and a Davis block for the team's seventh straight win.

Ganes saw a difference in the team's pass-receive at the end of the first set and throughout the second and third. "We moved much better in the second and third sets," he explained. "If you move well, and execute on serve receive, it really helps to stabilize the game for you."

Tonight's win sets up a #1 vs. #2 match-up on Sunday. The Owls, currently second in the American, will play host to league-leading UCF at 1:00 p.m. Temple's seven-game win streak will be on the line against the 13-game win streak for the Knights.

Box Score (PDF) | Post-Match Interviews