Another Close Match Falls Against Volleyball

Sunday, November 3

Greenville, N.C.

12:00 PM

Temple University

11-12, 2-10AAC

ECU

18-8, 5-7AAC

Temple

East Carolina

Photo by: Mike Apice

Another Close Match Falls Against Volleyball

11.3.19 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. — The Temple volleyball team fell in three close sets on the road at conference foe East Carolina on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates earned the sweep, 25-23, 26-24, 25-23 to move to 18-8 overall, 5-7 in conference play. Temple dips below .500 for the first time this season, falling to 11-12, 2-10 in The American.

Keys to the Match
> Temple's offense was outmatched, as ECU hit .266 to the Owls' .186, but it was ECU's ability to make runs when they needed, closing out three sets that were all decided by just two points.
> Other statistics were virtually even, with the Pirates holding slim 61-59 and 6-5 advantages in digs and blocks.
> Temple led late in set one, before ECU rallied to score four out of the final five points to go up 1-0.
> ECU again edged the Owls in set two, this time needed extra points to take it 26-24.
> In the final frame, the score was tied 11 times, before ECU used a final surge to win it, 25-23.

Quotable: Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam
> "[Losing these close sets] is not easy. It's one gut punch after another. At this point, we're playing for pride. We'll keep working hard and stay motivated in order to represent our program and school well."
> "We had to make a lineup change before the match, so that didn't help, but we just made too many errors today. We needed to do better to control the first touch. In the second and third sets our block needed to be better in order to deflect some of those balls and give us a chance on that first pass."
> "As unclean as we were today, we still had a chance to win every set. That's a testament to the will of the players not to give up."

Individual Highlights
> Sophomore Gem Grimshaw tallied a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs.
> Sophomore Peyton Boyd finished with 12 kills and eight digs, while junior Miray Bolukbasi notched eight kills in two sets of work.
> Junior Selina Merfol dished out 38 assists, adding eight digs.
> Junior Averi Salvador rounded out the box score with 11 digs and two aces.

Set One: ECU 25. Temple 23
> The Owls rebounded from a slow start in set one, to take the lead midway through the action.
> Temple led by as many as four (19-15) before ECU began to chip away.
> The Pirates tied things at 21-21 and after trading sideouts to make it 22-22, ECU grabbed three of the next four points to get the win.

Set Two: ECU 26, Temple 24
> A 6-3 Temple start was erased with an ECU surge that put the hosts up 11-10.
> After the Pirates went up by three, Temple battled back to knot the set at 17-17 and 18-18.
> ECU surged again, but it was answered by the Owls, who went up 23-22 on an attack error.
> The teams battled for the final few points, with a 24-24 tied, but ECU scored two straight to close out the extra points win, 26-24.

Set Three: ECU 25, Temple 23
> Another tight set played out in the third, as the scored was knotted up 11 times before either team had hit 20 points.
> Tied 18-18, ECU made a run to go up 24-21. Temple spoiled a pair of set points, but ECU got the final kill it needed to win the set and the match.

Up Next
> The Owls will play their last road series of the season, heading to UConn on Friday and Tulane on Sunday.