Volleyball Begins Three-Game Home Set with Cherry Out on Wednesday

PHILADELPHIA -- The Temple volleyball team is busy this week, hosting three matches in five days at McGonigle Hall. The Owls open the set with UConn on Wednesday (5:00 p.m.), then play Tulsa on Friday (7:00 p.m.), before hosting SMU on Sunday (12:00 p.m.).

CHERRY OUT McGONIGLE
When the Owls take on UConn on Wednesday, fans are encouraged to wear cherry to "cherry out" McGonigle Hall. Free t-shirts will also be available to the first 400 students, first come, first served.

AMERICAN DIGITAL NETWORK
The Temple vs. Tulsa match will be one of the first ever regular season volleyball games airing live on the American Digital Network. Keith Irizarry will have the call. Fans can watch the game live online at theamerican.org/watch/ or on a TV by installing the American Digital Network App on Roku systems.

SENIOR DAY
Following Sunday's match against SMU, the Owls will honor the four member class of 2016. Temple will pay tribute to Alyssa Drachslin, Halle McCullough, Sandra Sydlik, and Kayla Yingling, who will all play their last home match for the Owls.

LAST TIME OUT: TEMPLE
Backed by a team attack of .308, Temple defeated visiting USF 3-0 (25-24, 25-20, 25-23) on Sunday at McGonigle Hall. 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.

20-WINS
The Owls reached 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.

ASSIST MACHINE
Senior Sandra Sydlik earned the 3,000th assist of her career in Temple's November 6th match against Tulane. She became just the sixth player in Temple history to accomplish that feat.

CONFERENCE LEADERS
Temple hits a conference-best .262, while also ranking first with 14.31 kills per set. The Owls are also second in The American in assists per set (13.26).
               Individually, Overton is first in The American in hitting percentage (.414), while Asci is fifth in the conference in kills per set (3.52). Sydlik is second in the conference in assists per set (11.21), while Alyssa Drachslin ranked sixth in the conference in digs, averaging 4.94 per set.

NATIONALLY-RANKED
Temple appears in the top-35 in three national stat categories this week. The Owls rank 16th in the nation in kills per set (14.26), 23rd in in assists per set (13.26), kill per set (14.17) and are 32st in hitting percentage (.262).
               Individually, Overton ranks 15th in the nation in hitting percentage (.414), while Sydlik ranks 21st nationally in assists per set (11.21).

OWL LEADERS
Asci's 3.59 kills per set lead Temple, while junior Tyler Davis (2.89) and sophomore Izzy Rapacz (2.58) also bolster the Owl attack. Junior Kirsten Overton leads the team in hitting percentage, attacking at a .414 clip, while also averaging 2.43 kills per set. Senior Sandra Sydlik has dished out 11.21 assists per set.
               Defensively, senior Alyssa Drachslin has racked up 471 total digs, averaging 4.86 per set. Overton leads the Owl blockers, with 90 total, while sophomore Janine Simmons has 82 and Rapacz has 76.
               At the line, Sydlik leads the Owls with 27 aces, while sophomore Deric Peric has 24. Asci has also served well, racking up 22 aces.

RAPACZ NAMED TO HONOR ROLL
Temple sophomore Izzy Rapacz earned a spot on the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll for the period ending November 15. Rapacz took 44 swings over the weekend, with over half (26) going down as kills. She hit .500, leading Temple to a pair of sweeps against UCF and USF. Rapacz racked up 26 kills, 4.33 per set, with only four errors for the week, and was the leading Owl hitter in both wins. Against USF, Rapacz had 12 kills with just one error, hitting .611, while against USF, she tallied 14 kills, hitting .423.

SCOUTING UCONN
The UConn Huskies are 16-11 overall, with a 10-6 record in the American Athletic Conference. The Huskies are coming off of a three-game winning streak over conference opponents. UConn's offense is led by junior Jade Strawberry who averages 3.01 kills per set, while also having team's highest number of aces (25). Sophomore Kenya Cason stacks up just under Strawberry with the team's second highest number of kills per set (2.52), while junior setter Rebecca Rivera leads the team in assists with 590 total assists, 5.73 per set.
    Defensively, the UConn Huskies are bolstered by Freshman Kennedy Arundel has 380 total digs, 3.84 per set, while senior Immanuella Anagu has 111 total blocks which includes 15 solo.

SCOUTING TULSA
The Tulsa Hurricanes have a 13-15 overall record this season, going 8-8 in conference play. The Hurricanes' offense is led by junior Erica Bohannon and senior Ashley Hooper. Bohannon is averaging 4.07 kills, while Hooper hits .330, racking up 309 kills so far this season. Hooper also leads the team at the net, accounting for 110 total blocks, including 27 solo. Sophomore Sophie Bethke averages 10.39 assists per set, tallying 1,174 total this season.
    Tulsa's defense is led by Junior Brooke Berryhill, who averages 4.95 digs per set and has racked up a total of 559 for the season.

SCOUTING SMU
SMU's offense is led by a trio of players, Janelle Giordano, Abby Bybel, and Cailin Bula. Giordano leads the Mustangs with a .383 hitting percentage, tallying 2.49 kills per set, while also topping the team and the conference in blocks, recording 162 total, 23 solo. Bybel averages a team-best 2.99 kills per set, while Bula is close behind with 2.59 per frame. Avery Acker runs the offense, dishing out a conference-best 12.37 assists per set.
    Defensively, Morgan Heise averages 6.09 digs per set, while Acker (2.95 per set) and Bybel (2.72 per set) also play well defensively. Lauren Mills leads the team on the serve, accounting for 30 total aces.

OWLS AGAINST THE FIELD
Temple is 6-3 all-time against UConn, with the Huskies winning the earlier match-up, 3-2, in Storrs, Conn. Temple is 2-1 against Tulsa, with the first meeting between the teams this year going to Temple. Against SMU, both teams have won three matches in their six meetings, with SMU winning their earlier meeting, 3-0.

NEXT UP
Temple wraps up the season on Friday, November 27 at ECU.

Live Stats | Live Video (vs. UConn) | Live Video (vs. Tulsa on ADN) | Live Video (vs. SMU) | Match Notes (PDF)

Volleyball Begins Three-Game Home Set with Cherry Out on Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Irem Asci

Tyler Davis

Alyssa Drachslin

Caroline Grattan

Halle McCullough

Kirsten Overton

Izabella Rapacz

Janine Simmons

Sandra Sydlik

Kayla Yingling

Temple University Athletics