Volleyball Narrowly Falls to #23 UCF

Saturday, November 3

McGonigle Hall

1:00 PM

Temple University

5-20, 2-11AAC

UCF

22-3, 13-0AAC

UCF

Temple

Volleyball Narrowly Falls to #23 UCF

11.3.18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA -- The Temple volleyball team played #23 UCF tough, but ultimately the Knights finished out a 3-1 victory at McGonigle Hall. UCF remained unbeaten in conference play (21-3, 12-0 AAC) with the 25-14, 25-20, 17-25, 31-29 win, dropping the Owls to 5-20, 2-12 in the American.

Keys to the Match
> UCF hit .330 between the first two sets, including .586 in the initial frame, to gain momentum early.
> Trailing 2-0, Temple seemed to get better each set, and finally broke through in the third.
> The Owls hit .256 as a team in the third, siding out 70% of the time to win, 25-17.
> Temple had a big lead in the fourth frame, but UCF chipped away until the marathon stanza was pushed to extra points.
> After back-and-forth action from both teams, the Knights put together two-straight points to take the third 31-29, and the match, 3-1.

Quotable: Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam
> "I think the first two sets UCF executed really well, I don't think we played very consistent, especially at the net. It took us some time to set up the block correctly and set up defense around the block. I thought the pin blockers, especially on the right side did a great job adjusting and setting the block correctly, and our middles worked extremely hard as well."
> "Our defense picked it up after the second set, and that allowed us to stay in the game and execute at a higher level. That carried into the offense and then we were able to execute our offense better."
> "The team effort was really good today, and I have to give our players credit. There were multiple players that had good moments and bad moments and they all worked their way out of the bad moments, and that's a good sign. As a team, to be able to survive those bad moments and still be able to compete is key.:

Individual Highlights
> Six different players reached eight or more kills for the Owls, -- Iva Deak (12), Katerina Papazoglou (10), Carla Guennewig (10), Peyton Boyd (9), Dana Westfield (9), and Irem Asci (8).
> Deak led the Owls with a .458 attack, while Guennewig (.450) and Papazoglou (.358) also hit efficiently.
> Freshman Tyler Lindgren dished out a double-double with 35 assists and 10 digs, while Papazoglou also doubled up, adding 10 digs to her 10 kills.
> Boyd led the Owls with four blocks, while Deak added three.
> Senior Mia Heirakuji led Temple with 18 digs with sophomore Averi Salvador adding 16 and Asci, 12.
> Senior Hannah Vandegrift added 23 assists and freshman Gem Grimshaw added five kills.

Set One: UCF 25, Temple 14
> UCF was nearly flawless on offense to start, hitting .586 with 18 kills to just one error.
> Temple stayed within three points early on, until a 4-0 surge put UCF up 14-8.
> The Owls would get no closer, as UCF finished set one with a comfortable advantage.

Set Two: UCF 25, Temple 20
> Set two was tight, but UCF did enough to take it, hitting .205 to Temple's .171.
> UCF led 10-6, before Temple rallied to cut it to one on a Papazoglou kill, to make it 13-12.
> The Knights surged ahead, 20-16, and Temple would get as close as 23-20 late, but UCF finished it to go up 2-0.

Set Three: Temple 25, UCF 17
> Temple rallied to get on the board with a .256 attack in the third set.
> The Owls started with a 5-2 lead and never trailed in the frame.
> Temple's advantage grew to 22-13 and the Owls held off a late UCF charge to win it 25-17.

Set Four: UCF 31, Temple 29
> Temple carried the momentum from the third into the fourth set, but couldn't close things out.
> The Owls started with a 9-1 advantage and at one point led 16-6, before UCF rallied.
> The Knights got to within four at 18-14, but Temple responded and pushed it to a 23-18 lead.
> Showing why they're nationally ranked, UCF battled back to tie the set at 24-24.
> From there, the set was tied five more times with five set points spoiled, but the Knights strung together the final two points to take it, 31-29, and 3-1.

Up Next:
> The Owls will play on the road next weekend, traveling to Tulane for a Friday clash and Memphis for a Sunday match.