Volleyball Falls in Tight Match to UCF

Thursday, February 18

McGonigle Hall

1:00 P.M.

Temple University

5-2,1-2AAC

UCF

7-0,1-0AAC

UCF

Temple

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Volleyball Falls in Tight Match to UCF

2.18.21 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA — The Temple volleyball team battled through three ultra-tight sets against preseason #1 UCF, but came out on the wrong side, falling 3-0 to the Knights on Thursday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. Just seven total points decided the three set match, as UCF took it 25-22, 28-26, 25-23, to improve to 7-0, 1-0 in the conference. Temple dips to 5-2, 1-2 in the American.

How It Happened
> Temple was the first to 20 points in all three sets, but in all three, late rallies by UCF put them on top.
> The lead changed hands 14 times between the three sets, as both teams battled.
> UCF finished with a .174 attack, while Temple was at .143.
> Temple had the edge on defense, out-digging the Knights 76-60, but UCF led at the net with 13 blocks to Temple's eight.

Quotable: Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam
> "I think our team played really hard. The execution was pretty good, but the bottom line is we got stuck in a few rotations and we have to find a way to get out of those. That was the difference in each set today."
> "We certainly did some really good things, we just have to make some small adjustments. We need to execute in those moments and that will get us over the hump."
> "Even though it was a three-setter, we had the opportunity to win each set. As much as we might feel defeated in this moment, we have a chance to beat this team tomorrow."

Individual Highlights
> Juniors Gem Grimshaw and Miray Bolukbasi each notched double-doubles in the match. Grimshaw led all players with 18 kills, adding 11 digs. Bolukbasi finished with 10 kills and 10 digs.
> Freshman Taylor Davenport notched a career high with seven blocks, including two solo, while adding five kills.
> Freshman Falanika Danielson led all players with 27 digs, also adding five assists and an ace.
> Junior Tyler Lindgren dished out 34 assists with eight digs, while senior Katerina Papazoglou added eight digs as well.

Set One: UCF 25, Temple 22
> A tight set in the first saw Temple breakaway midway through the action.
> Trailing 13-11, the Owls used an 8-2 run to take a 20-15 lead on a Papazoglou kill.
> UCF then used a massive block to go on an 8-0 surge, backed by five stuffs, to lead 23-20.
> Temple got a pair back, but UCF finished out the 25-22 win.

Set Two: UCF 28, Temple 26
> Another tight set and another late run put the Knights up 2-0 in the match.
> UCF had the hot hand early, going up 5-2, the Owls battled back to tie, but midway through the action, the Knights were up 15-12.
> Temple used a 10-3 run to go up 22-18, but again UCF rallied to knot the match at 23-23.
> The set was tied three more times before the Knights used back-to-back kills to take it, 28-26.

Set Three: UCF 25, Temple 23
> UCF jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third frame before a 9-3 run saw the Owls go up 12-10.
> Temple held the lead at 18-15 and later at 20-18, but could not finish out the frame.
> The Knights rallied to go up 21-20, before Temple tied it again at 22-22.
> UCF saw one match point thwarted by the Owls, but finished it out one point later to take it 25-23.

Up Next
> Temple and UCF will battle again in McGonigle Hall tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN+.