Volleyball Drops Five-Set Nailbiter at USF

Friday, February 12

1:00 P.M.

Temple University

4-1,0-1AAC

USF

3-2,1-0AAC

Temple

South Fla.

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Volleyball Drops Five-Set Nailbiter at USF

2.12.21 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

TAMPA — Temple volleyball lost its first match of the 2020-21 season, falling in a nail biter, 3-2 at USF. Set scores were 25-22, 21-25, 6-25, 26-24, 17-15 in favor of the Bulls. The Owls dip to 4-1 on the season with an 0-1 start to conference play, while USF improves to 3-2 (1-0 AAC).

How it Happened
> Each set was its own story, but all but the third one were tight.
> Temple fell behind after a close 25-22 USF win in the first frame, but tied the match with a 25-21 win in the second.
> The Owls looked to be rolling with a huge 25-6 win in the third set to go up, 2-1.
> However, USF forced a fifth set with a 26-24 narrow victory in the fourth.
> More extra points followed in the fifth, but Temple came out on the wrong end of a 17-15 score.
> Temple had the edge in hitting percentage, .195 too .195, while also leading 9-8 in blocks and 11-4 in aces.

Individual Highlights
> Junior Gem Grimshaw tallied her second double-double of the season with 18 kills and 13 digs.
> Senior Katerina Papazoglou, in her first action of the season, notched 11 kills and a career-high five aces, while adding 11 digs for a double-double.
> Junior Tyler Lindgren also had a double-double with 40 assists and 10 digs.
> Freshman Falanika Danielson led all players with 21 digs, while classmates Taylor Davenport and Nina-Symone Williams each had four blocks to tie for team-high.
> Junior Miray Bolukbasi finished with nine kills, while Davenport added seven in the tight loss.

Set One: USF 25, Temple 22
> After conceding the first point of the match, Temple rattled off a 6-0 run to go up 6-1.
> USF responded with a 7-0 run midway through, inching ahead 11-8.
> Temple rallied to take the lead back to 15-13, but USF tied it at 18-18.
> The Owls went ahead 19-18, but USF closed out the set, including two aces, to win it 25-22.

Set Two: Temple 25, USF 21
> USF had the hot hand in the early part, as Temple struggled on serve-receive to fall behind, 10-4.
> Temple finally tied the match on a cross court shot from Grimshaw, making it 15-15.
> After an 18-18 tie, Temple took over, scoring seven of the next 10 points to take the set and tie the match.

Set Three: Temple 25, USF 6
> It was all Temple all the time in the third set, as the Owls hit a massive .500 in the frame.
> The Owls rattled off the first seven points of the match with Papazoglou on the line.
> Temple increased the lead to 16-3 before USF got a few back , making it 17-5.
> From there, Temple took over once again, going on an 8-1 run to end the frame at 26-5.

Set Four: USF 26, Temple 24
> USF came out on top of a tight fourth set to tie the match at 2-2.
> Temple led 3-1 before USF made a run to go up 7-4.
> Eight more ties followed as neither team could get momentum.
> Temple went up 21-19 and again 24-21, but USF battled back to tie the match at 24-25 and get the final kills they needed for the win.

Set Five: USF 17, Temple 15
> Five early ties set the tone for the fifth set, as each team stayed close.
> USF went up 9-7, but the Owls battled back to tie.
> Knotted at 13-13, Temple was able to spoil two set and match points, but USF got two kills from Marta Cvitkovic to end up on top.

Up Next
> Temple and USF play again tomorrow, same place (The Corral), same time (1:00 p.m.).