Volleyball Outlasts Duquesne in Five-Set Thriller

Saturday, September 12

McGonigle Hall

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

6-2

Duquesne

4-6

Duquesne

Temple University

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Volleyball Outlasts Duquesne in Five-Set Thriller

9.12.15 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple volleyball team made it two-for-two in the Hilton Penn's Landing Cherry & White Challenge, outlasting former Atlantic 10 foe, Duquesne, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon. The Owls grabbed the win using set scores of 25-19, 13-25, 25-14, 21-25, and 15-1, to move to 6-2 on the season. Duquesne dips to 5-6.

The teams split sets with Temple winning the first and third and Duquesne taking the second and fourth to force a deciding fifth frame. The Owls came alive in the final test, hitting an eye-popping .643 with nine kills and no errors to nab the 15-1 victory, and seal the match.

Four Temple players reached double-figures in kills, led by a double-double from sophomore Irem Asci (14 kills, 15 digs). Junior Kirsten Overton hit .440 in the match with 13 kills, while sophomore Izzy Rapacz hit .333 with 13 kills and four blocks. Junior Tyler Davis also paced the offense with 12 kills, while sophomore Janine Simmons added five kills without an error, hitting .455.

Senior setter Sandra Sydlik dished out 52 assists, while also adding nine digs in the winning effort. Senior Alyssa Drachslin tallied a team-best 26 digs, while junior Dara Peric rounded out the stat sheet with 11 digs and career-high six service aces.

Temple broke open an 11-11 tie in the first set, as Yingling was on the line for an extended serving run which gave the Owls a 20-16 advantage. Duquesne got as close as 24-19 on a serving error, but Temple closed out the 25-19 set win on an Overton kill.

Duquesne led frame-to-frame in the second set, opening a 5-0 lead and not looking back. Temple hit just -0.69 in the stanza, as the Dukes cruised to a 25-13 victory.

The Owls rebounded in the third set, using an early Peric serving run to go up, 8-3. Duquesne cut the lead to 9-6, but Temple was able to create some distance with the precision blocking of Overton, Rapacz, and Simmons. Up 20-13, Temple surrendered just one more point the rest of the way, ending the set on back-to-back Asci kills.

The fourth set was the closest of the match, with Temple grabbing an early 9-7 lead. Duquesne battled back to tie the frame at 14-14 and then took control. The Dukes used a 7-2 surge on five-straight kills, on the way to a 21-17 advantage. Temple made some noise down the stretch, closing it to 24-21, but Duquesne held on for a 25-21 win.

Set five was all Temple, as the Owls hammered nine kills on just 14 swings, while allowing Duquesne only one point. Sydlik opened the frame on the line, putting Temple up 3-0, before a kill from the Dukes made it, 3-1. From there, Peric took over at the service line, recording three aces, en route to a 12-0 run that sealed the set and the match for Temple. Asci notched six kills in the final frame, while Rapacz added four and Overton picked up three to aid the Owl offense.

Temple is back in action at 7:30 p.m., hosting Binghamton in the championship match of the Cherry & White Challenge.

Box Score (PDF) | Video Highlights