Volleyball Closes 2018 Season with 3-1 Win at UConn

Wednesday, November 21

Storrs, Conn.

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

8-22, 5-13AAC

UConn

15-16, 7-11AAC

Temple

UConn

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Volleyball Closes 2018 Season with 3-1 Win at UConn

11.21.18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

STORRS, Conn. — The Temple volleyball team closed the 2018 season with a 3-1 win on the road at UConn on Wednesday afternoon. The Owls dropped the first set 25-18, but rallied to take the final three, 25-20, 25-21, 27-25. The win gave Temple three in the final four matches of the season, as the Owls close the 2018 campaign at 8-22, 5-13 in conference play.

Keys to the Match
> Temple's defense shined, as the Owls rebounded from a first set loss to take the final three frames.
> After recording a side-out percentage of just 40% in the first set, the Owls improved it to around 60% in each of the final three sets.
> Temple held UConn to a .134 attack with strong serving and a solid block that racked up nine stuffs.

Quotable: Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam
> "I thought we served well and passed well, but our defense played really well and may have won the game for us. Our block kept adjusting throughout the match, and we were able to get some balls down to win."
> "We've been through a lot, but today was really positive. We came together as a team, and I thought it showed a lot of heart."
> "I think this is definitely something to build off of. We have a core group of young players coming back that got some great experience, and in the end, we saw how we could come together to get over the hump. That was really important for us."

Individual Highlights
> Three Temple players recorded double-doubles in the match, led by sophomore Katerina Papazoglou who notched 12 kills and 10 digs.
> Graduate student Irem Asci finished her career in Cherry and White with 10 kills and 12 digs.
> Freshman Tyler Lindgren dished out 22 assists and added a season-best 16 digs in the match.
> Senior Carla Guennewig tallied 10 kills, tying a career-best, hitting .409 with four blocks in the match.
> Senior Mia Heirakuji led Temple's stout defense with 22 digs.
> Senior Hannah Vandegrift tallied 16 assists with five digs to close her collegiate career.

Set One: UConn 25, Temple 18
> UConn had the early edge in set one, before Temple tied it at 6-6 on a kill from freshman Gem Grimshaw.
> The Huskies inched ahead to make it 15-10 before Temple rallied to cut it to a one point lead at 18-17.
> UConn then closed out set one on a 7-1 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Set Two: Temple 25, UConn 20
> Temple responded quickly in the second set, using a match-best .343 attack to tie things at 1-1.
> The Owls were tough at the net in the early going, forcing UConn to make several errors as Temple led 4-1.
> Leading by four, Temple used a 6-1 run to take control of the match at 17-8.
> UConn rallied to close the gap back to four, but Temple closed it out with three kills from Gunnewig in the final five points.

Set Three: Temple 25, UConn 20
> Temple broke a 3-3 tie with four-straight points to set the tone early in the third set.
> The Owls kept their lead around five, until a late UConn run saw the Huskies go up 21-20.
> Temple responded with a 5-0 run to close it out, forcing four-straight UConn attack errors, including a final block by junior Dana Westfield and sophomore Baleigh Jean-Philippe to close it.

Set Four: Temple 27, UConn 25
> Temple won a tightly contested fourth set to close out the win.
> The Owls led 7-2 early in the fourth before UConn came all the way back to tie at 18-18.
> From there, the set was tied four more times, until it was 25-25.
> Temple was able to close it out on a UConn error and a Papazoglou kill to seal the victory.