Volleyball Sweeps ECU for First American Conference Win

Sunday, September 28

Greenville, S.C.

1:00 PM

Temple University

10-4 (1-1American)

East Carolina

6-4 (0-2American)

Temple

East Carolina

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Volleyball Sweeps ECU for First American Conference Win

9.28.14 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Behind 13 kills from Tyler Davis and a strong defensive unit, Temple volleyball earned a 3-0 sweep at East Carolina for the Owls' first American Athletic Conference victory. Temple (10-4, 1-1) won the match at ECU (6-4, 0-2) by scores of 25-19, 25-22 and 25-13.

In a rare feat, the Owls never trailed in the match and never allowed the Pirates to tie the score. The win came on the heels of a tough match earlier in the week at UConn, and Temple head coach Bakeer Ganes said that was somewhat of a wake-up call for the team.

"I think we all kind of recognized that we made mistakes at UConn and were not ourselves," he said. "We knew we could do a better job. The main thing was the mental aspect. We just wanted to prove to ourselves and everybody else that we are a good team and can compete at this level."

Ganes said the team did a great job to accomplish most of the goals they set for themselves in the match, mainly to serve aggressively, stabilize the serve-receive and have a balanced attack. The team made a determined effort to improve in those areas after falling short at UConn.

"I think it's always a great thing to get a win in this conference," said Ganes, "and especially to win on the road is very important. I'm so glad we were able to bounce back this weekend and hopefully that will keep us motivated moving forward."

Davis' 13 kills were a match-high, and the Owls got a match-best 16 digs from Alyssa Drachslin. Sandra Sydlik notched a double-double with 11 digs to go with 36 assists, and Dara Peric added 13 digs to eight kills.

The Owls jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set and never looked back. Davis knocked down a kill to give Temple set point, and two plays later, Jennifer Iacobini recorded a kill to give Temple a 25-19 win in the set.

Temple jumped out to similar leads in the second and third sets, holding off ECU for the entire match. Caroline Grattan and Kirsten Overton recorded back-to-back kills for the final two points of the second set.

The third set was Temple's best of the match, with 14 kills and zero errors for a hitting percentage of .519.

The Owls will be back on the road next weekend at UCF (Friday) and USF (Sunday).

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