Volleyball Grabs Road Win at Memphis

Sunday, November 1

Memphis, Tenn.

2:00 p.m.

Temple University

17-7, 8-4American

Memphis

14-11, 5-7American

Temple University

Memphis

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Volleyball Grabs Road Win at Memphis

11.1.15 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Temple volleyball team picked up a 3-1 road win over conference-rival Memphis on Sunday afternoon. The Owls topped the Tigers, 25-15, 23-25, 25-16, 25-12, to move to 17-7 on the season, with an 8-4 mark in The American. Memphis dips to 14-11, 5-7 in conference play.

Temple's offense featured four players who recorded double-figure kill totals, while the team combined to hit .307. Junior Tyler Davis recorded a match-high 13 kills, while classmate Kirsten Overton had 12 kills and three blocks. Sophomores Izzy Rapacz and Irem Asci each tallied 11 kils, while Asci completed a double-double with 12 digs. Sandra Sydlik ran the offense, dishing out 51 assists.

While Temple's offense rolled, the Owl attack was set up by strong defensive play. Senior Alyssa Drachslin led all players with 21 digs, while sophomore Dara Peric had 10 digs, to go along with six kills. Sydlik and senior Yingling both finished the day with eight digs, helping Temple to a 65-43 advantage in the category.

Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam was pleased with the overall play of the team in today's match. "I thought we did multiple things well today," he noted. "We were very consistent in our execution, we served well, and controlled the ball on our side. Our defense also allowed us to get a lot of second opportunities on offense."

The Owls finished the match with five service aces, but strong serving from the team allowed Temple to keep the Memphis offense in check. "I thought our serving was really good today," added Ganesharatnam. "We put them out of system multiple times and that was our game plan today. We executed that really well, especially since there's a small margin of error with those plans."

After falling behind, 11-9 in the first set, Temple put together a 9-0 run, backed by a pair of kills from Overton and one each from Sydlik and Peric to take an 18-11 lead. Memphis finally broke up the Temple run with a kill by McKenzie Hayes, but the Owls closed out the set, ending it on a block from Sydlik and Janine Simmons, 25-15.

Temple had the early edge in the second set, as Overton notched three kills to give the Owls a slim 6-4 lead. Memphis fired back, with a run of its own, tying the match at 9-9. Temple then benefitted from three Memphis attack errors, to re-gain a 14-10 advantage. The Tigers battled back to within one point on three occasions, before taking a late 24-22 lead. A Rapacz kill spoiled set-point for Memphis, but the Tigers put one to the floor on the next serve, taking the set, 25-23.

Temple never trailed in the third set, taking the lead at 2-1 and not looking back. Memphis stayed within a few points, until Temple put together an 8-2 run to make it a 20-12 set. The Tigers scored two-straight to make it 20-14, but Temple closed out the set by scoring five of the next seven points to take it 25-16, giving the Owls a 2-1 match lead.

In set four, Temple again had an early lead, keeping it around a two-point edge. Holding an 11-9 advantage, Temple struck for nine unanswered points, putting down six kills, inlcuding two from Peric to make it a 20-9 set. Memphis was unable to get their offense going, as Temple allowed just three Tigers' points the rest of the set, closing it out on a Davis kill that made it 25-12, and 3-1.

Temple faces another road series next weekend, traveling to Tulane and Houston for Friday and Sunday matches.

Box Score (PDF)