Temple University Athletics
Ganesharatnam Named Regional Coach of the Year; Danielson on All-Region Team
4.13.21 | Women's Volleyball
PHILADELPHIA -- The honors keep rolling in for the Temple volleyball team. The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) regional awards were announced this morning and Owls' head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam was named the North Region Coach of the Year, and freshman sensation Falanika Danielson appeared on the All-Region North Team as an honorable mention selection.
Ganesharatnam earns his first AVCA Regional Coach of the Year award after earlier in the season being named Co-Coach of the Year in the American. The 10th-year head coach guided the Owls to an 11-6 overall record as the team advanced all the way to the AAC title game. Temple needed a late-season run to even make the AAC Tournament, after losing All-Conference player Peyton Boyd at the onset of the conference season. The Owls closed out the season with back-to-back wins over Cincinnati, an NCAA Sweet Sixteen team a year ago, and then topped the AAC West Division Champion, Houston, in the Tournament Semifinals. The Owls finished the 2021 season with a sky-high RPI of 26, the highest in Ganesharatnam's career.
Danielson, the 2020-21 American Libero of the Year, becomes the first Temple Owl named to the AVCA All-Region team since standout setter Sandra Sydlik earned the distinction in 2014. She piled on 5.27 digs per set, while adding totals of 73 assists and 21 service aces. Danielson ranked 27th in the nation in digs per set, after recording 10 or more digs in 15 of 16 matches this season for Temple. She hit the 20+ dig mark in nine matches this season, including exploding for a career-high 32 digs in a win over Delaware. Danielson earned AAC Libero of the Year honors, the first freshman to do so, while also earning a first team All-Conference selection, as the first rookie for Temple to do so since Dara Peric in 2014. She also becomes the first Owl libero to earn an All-Region honor in program history.
Ganesharatnam earns his first AVCA Regional Coach of the Year award after earlier in the season being named Co-Coach of the Year in the American. The 10th-year head coach guided the Owls to an 11-6 overall record as the team advanced all the way to the AAC title game. Temple needed a late-season run to even make the AAC Tournament, after losing All-Conference player Peyton Boyd at the onset of the conference season. The Owls closed out the season with back-to-back wins over Cincinnati, an NCAA Sweet Sixteen team a year ago, and then topped the AAC West Division Champion, Houston, in the Tournament Semifinals. The Owls finished the 2021 season with a sky-high RPI of 26, the highest in Ganesharatnam's career.
Danielson, the 2020-21 American Libero of the Year, becomes the first Temple Owl named to the AVCA All-Region team since standout setter Sandra Sydlik earned the distinction in 2014. She piled on 5.27 digs per set, while adding totals of 73 assists and 21 service aces. Danielson ranked 27th in the nation in digs per set, after recording 10 or more digs in 15 of 16 matches this season for Temple. She hit the 20+ dig mark in nine matches this season, including exploding for a career-high 32 digs in a win over Delaware. Danielson earned AAC Libero of the Year honors, the first freshman to do so, while also earning a first team All-Conference selection, as the first rookie for Temple to do so since Dara Peric in 2014. She also becomes the first Owl libero to earn an All-Region honor in program history.
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