Volleyball Sweeps USF to Earn 20th Win

Sunday, November 15

McGonigle Hall

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

19-8, 10-5American

USF

9-18, 6-9American

USF

Temple University

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Volleyball Sweeps USF to Earn 20th Win

11.15.15 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA -- Backed by a team attack of .308, Temple volleyball posted its third-straight sweep, as the Owls defeated visiting USF 3-0 (25-24, 25-20, 25-23) on Sunday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. The win improves Temple to 20-8, 11-5 in The American, while USF drops to 9-18, 6-19 in conference play.

Temple reaches the 20-win milestone for the second-straight season under head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. Prior to 2014, the last time a Temple team recorded a 20-win season was the 2005 campaign. Dating back to 1975, the Owls now own 24 20-win seasons in the program's history.

The Owl attack clicked from the start, with sophomore Izzy Rapacz, and juniors Tyler Davis and Caroline Grattan all tallying double-digit kill totals. Rapacz led the pack with 14 kills, hitting .423, while Davis notched 13 kills with a .345 attack. Grattan put down 12 kills, while junior Kirsten Overton had seven kills from the middle, hitting .375.

Senior setter Sandra Sydlik ran the efficient offense, tallying 45 assists, while also contributing seven digs. Senior Alyssa Drachslin led all players with 23 digs, while sophomore Irem Asci added 10 digs and four kills. Senior Kayla Yingling rounded out the box score with eight digs.

Temple rolled to a 25-14 victory in set one, hitting .405, while holding USF to just a .152 attack. Temple jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never trailed in the frame. USF cut the Owl advantage to three, but a 3-0 run put Temple up 13-7. The Owl offense continued to roll, as Temple closed out the set on two kills from Davis and the set-winner from Grattan.

Temple took over a close set two with a 5-1 run that made it 13-7 on a pair of Rapacz kills. USF regrouped after a time-out and added a run of their own, tying the match at 14-14 and again at 16-16. Three-straight Temple points put the Owls in the driver's seat, going up 19-16, but USF kept things close, cutting the lead to 22-20 late in the frame. Rapacz notched a kill to make it 23-20 giving Temple the serve, where freshman Carla Guennewig sealed a 25-20 win with back-to-back aces.

USF fired back in set three, turning a 3-3 tie into a 9-5 lead with four kills and an ace. The Owls battled back to within one three times before finally tying the set 16-16 on a Davis kill. The teams traded points to tie the score at 18-18 before Temple took over. The Owls used two kills each from Asci and Rapacz to open a 22-18 lead, but USF again battled back to make it a 23-22 match. Needing just two points to seal the victory, Temple got kills from Overton and Acsi to complete the sweep with a 25-23 set win.

The Owls are back in action with three more home matches next week. Temple plays UConn on Wednesday, Tulsa on Friday, and SMU on Sunday. Wednesday's match begins at 5:00 p.m. and the Owls are looking to "Cherry Out" McGonigle Hall. The first 400 students in attendance will get free t-shirts.

Box Score (PDF) | Video Highlights