Asci Hits 1000 Career Kills as Volleyball Downs UConn in Nailbiter

Wednesday, September 28

Storrs, Conn.

5:00 p.m.

Temple University

9-4, 2-1AAC

UConn

11-3, 2-1AAC

Temple

UConn

Asci Hits 1000 Career Kills as Volleyball Downs UConn in Nailbiter

9.28.16 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

STORRS, Conn. -- Career nights for juniors Irem Asci, Izzy Rapacz, Kyra Coundourides, and sophomore Mia Heirakuji ended in dramatic fashion, as the Temple volleyball team topped UConn, 3-2 on the Huskies' home court, including a 19-17 win in the fifth set. The Owls (9-4, 2-1 American) handed UConn (11-3, 2-1 American) their first loss in American Athletic Conference play, winning the marathon match, 25-18, 26-24, 19-25, 23-25, 19-17.

Head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam was proud of his team's performance tonight, and noted that as the team hits its goals, individual goals will also be met. "I am very, very proud of how the team performed tonight," said Ganesharatnam. "They really came together as a team and as the challengers got bigger, they worked harder."

Asci tallied a career-best 28 kills, including the 1,000th of her career, which came in the third set. This is the second-straight 20+ kill performance for the outside hitter, who also tallied five digs and three aces. Rapacz tied her career high with 18 winners, also adding 16 digs for her fifth career double-double. Heirakuji tied the best defensive output of her career with a match-high 18 digs, while Coundourides also tied a career-high, finishing the night with 58 assists.

"This is a huge win for us," added Ganesharatnam. "We knew it would be a dogfight, and just because we won the first two sets, it didn't mean it would be easy for us to finish them out. I thought we did really great mentally, we were really strong and we barely made any mental mistakes. UConn played really well and I'm so proud of how we worked tonight."

Other top individual performances included a nine-kill night for senior Kirsten Overton. She went 9-1-18 to finish with a .444 attack and three blocks. Classmate Tyler Davis recorded eight kills, including going 4-0-10 in the final frame. Rounding out the box score, sophomore Iva Deak had four kills and five blocks and Rapacz finished with a match-best six blocks.

Temple won the first two sets to take a 2-0 lead in the match, but UConn rallied to tie things at 2-2, forcing a fifth set. Temple fell behind early in the final frame, trailing by as many as four. Down 12-8, the Owls rallied with four-straight points, three on Asci kills, to tie the frame at 12-12. The set was tied three more times until UConn had match point at 16-15. Temple spoiled it with a pair of kills from Davis to go up 17-16, but UConn tied the match at 17-17 on a Kenya Cason winner. Davis and the Owls answered with a kill to go up 18-17, and a block from Deak and Coundourides won the set 19-17, and the match, 3-2.

A tight set one featured 11 ties until it landed at 12-12 and Temple took over. The Owls used an 8-2 run to take over, as Rapacz had two kills and Deak and Coundourides combined for a block to make it 20-14. UConn scored three of the next four points to cut the set to 21-17, but Temple finished out the set with kills from Rapacz and Asci, making it 25-18.

Temple had the early lead in set two, starting with a 4-1 advantage, and growing that lead to six points midway through play. Leading 21-16, the Owls saw a UConn rally that tied things at 24-24. Temple was able to put the set away however, as a kill from Rapacz and a block from Overton and Rapacz ended the set 26-24 in the Owls' favor.

Set three followed a similiar script but the teams were switched. This time, it was UConn that jumped out to a large early lead. The Huskies opened with a 7-0 run and kept their lead between five and six points until late in the set. From there, Temple battled back with kills from Asci and Davis, before a Rapacz winner tied the set at 17-17. From there, UConn closed out the action on an 8-2 run to win the set, 25-19, making it 2-1 Temple in the match.

UConn started set four with a 3-1 lead before 16 more ties in the frame. Temple did not grab a lead in the set, but UConn had no more than a four-point advantage throughout play. The Owls faced a 19-16 deficit, but rallied to make it a one-point set, 23-22 on a Rapacz kill. UConn had match point at 24-22, but a service error put Temple within one. The rally was short-lived, however, as UConn hammered one down the line for the set-point winner, as a 25-23 UConn set win tied the match at 2-2.

All together, the fifth frame featured seven ties and just one lead change -- Temple's final run that sealed the victory.

Temple is off until Sunday, when the team travels to Memphis to take on the Tigers at 1:00 p.m.

Box Score (PDF)