SMU Tops Visiting Temple Volleyball

Friday, October 9

Dallas, Texas

8:00 p.m.

Temple University

13-4, 4-1American

SMU

14-3, 4-1American

Temple University

SMU

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

SMU Tops Visiting Temple Volleyball

10.9.15 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

DALLAS, Tex. — The Temple volleyball team dropped its first American Athletic Conference match of the season, falling to SMU on the road, 3-0, on Friday night. The Mustangs took the match, 25-13, 25-23, 25-17, improving to 14-3 overall, 4-1 in conference play. Temple's season record also moves to 14-3 overall, 4-1 in The American.

"SMU played really well tonight, they played like the preseason favorite they were," said head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. "They blocked extremely well, making it tough on our attackers, but they also played really well on defense. We were putting down balls that against other teams went for kills, but not against SMU, they executed at a very high level tonight."

Temple was hampered by hitting errors, as strong net play from SMU led to 26 attack errors for the Owls. The Mustangs racked up 11 team blocks, backed by conference leader Janelle Giordano's eight total stops, which limited Temple to a season-low hitting percentage of .016.

Offensively, sophomore Tyler Davis led the Owls with nine kills, while junior Kirsten Overton tallied six with a pair of blocks. Sophomore Irem Asci recorded five kills, while classmate Dara Peric added four to round out the Owl attack. Senior Alyssa Drachslin tied for match-high honors with 20 digs, while Asci added 10 and Peric had eight. Senior Sandra Sydlik wrapped up the box score with 27 assists on the night.

Temple fell behind early in set one, as three attack errors led to a 5-0 SMU lead. The Owls closed it to 9-7 after a pair of kills from Overton, but that was as close as Temple would get. SMU used a 6-2 surge to take control of the frame before going up 19-11. Temple managed just two points the rest of the way, as the Mustangs closed out the set on a 6-1 run to take it, 25-13.

The Owls stayed closer in set two, maintaining around a four-point deficit, until a 4-1 run including back-to-back Davis blocks, made it 13-13. After the teams traded sideouts to tie it at 14-14, SMU surged back in front, going up 22-20. Temple battled back to tie the match at 22-22 on a Drachslin ace and then 23-23 on a Davis kill, but SMU closed it out with back-to-back kills from Abby Bybel to win it 25-23.

SMU took control of set three by using an 8-3 run to create some separation at 15-8. Temple closed the gap to 16-12 with a pair of Davis kills, but another SMU surge pushed the hosts' advantage to 20-14. The Owls were able to whittle the lead down to 20-17 with kills from Overton, Caroline Grattan, and Janine Simmons, but SMU closed out the set on a 5-0 run, taking it 25-17, to complete the sweep.

Temple continues its road trip on Sunday in Tulsa. The Owls will face the Hurricane at 1:30 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. EST.

"At the end of the night, it's a loss, but just one loss," added Ganesharatnam. "We have one day to get ready for Tulsa, so we're going to move on, adjust, and be ready to play on Sunday."

Box Score (PDF)