Volleyball Downs Houston; Owls Advance to AAC Championship Match

Friday, April 2

Cincinnati, Ohio

5:00 P.M.

Temple University

11-5,5-4AAC

Houston

13-6,9-2AAC

Temple

Houston

Photo by: Ryan Meyer

Volleyball Downs Houston; Owls Advance to AAC Championship Match

4.2.21 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CINCINNATI — The Temple volleyball team advanced to the American Athletic Conference Championship with a 3-1 win over the top seeded team from the West Division, Houston (13-6). The Owls (11-5) dropped the first set 25-18, but rebounded strong to win the final three, 25-23, 25-14, 25-18 to move to on to the Championship match to take on UCF.

How it Happened
> After a first set loss, the Owls evened the match with a tight 25-23 win in set two.
> Temple's offense came alive in the third set, hitting an unbelievable .480 to take over the momentum in the match. The Owls won 25-14 to go up, 2-1.
> The Owls got off to a 7-2 start and survived a late Houston run to seal the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth.
> Despite hitting just .082 in the first frame, the Owls' offense rebounded to hit an impressive .299 for the match, out-hitting Houston's .263 attack.
> Temple out-blocked the larger Houston squad 10-7 and recorded nine aces in the match.

Individual Highlights
> Junior Gem Grimshaw shined on offense, hitting .341 with 17 kills. She added nine digs and five blocks to her already shining stat sheet.
> Junior Miray Bolukbasi finished with 14 kills and nine digs with three blocks.
> Junior Tyler Lindgren dished out 49 assists combining 14 digs for a double-double.
> Sophomore Kayla Spells added 11 kills with a team-high six blocks, while freshman Taylor Davenport shored up the middle with nine kills and three blocks.
> Senior Katerina Papazoglou finished with seven kills and a team-best 21 digs.
> Freshman Falanika Danielson tallied 14 digs and eight assists.

Set One: Houston 25, Temple 15
> Temple grabbed the first point of the frame, but Houston built a 10-5 advantage.
> The Owls battled back with a great serving run from Papazoglou that led to a 7-1 run putting Temple up 14-13.
> Houston inched ahead with three straight to go up 16-14 before the Owls again tied it at 16-16.
> The Owls stayed within two points until a late Houston run, this one 7-0, gave the set to the Cougars.

Set Two: Temple 25, Houston 23
> Houston had an early second set lead, but Temple tied things up at 8-8.
> A 3-1 run put Temple up 11-8 but three straight from Houston tied it at 11-11.
> Neither team managed runs towards the middle of the frame, until Temple strung together a 4-1 advantage to lead 20-17.
> Houston responded, however, tying the back at 20-20 with back-to-back blocks.
> Tied as late as 23-23, Temple got the final two points off the hands of Spells to take the set and tie the match.

Set Three: Temple 25, Houston 14
> Temple's offense was on fire in the pivotal third set, hitting .480.
> The Owls turned a tight 11-10 set into a blow out with a 9-2 run, to take control at 20-12.
> Houston got no closer, as the Owls ended the frame on a 4-1 run and a Davenport kill.

Set Four: Temple 25, Houston 18
> Temple opened up a 7-3 lead in the fourth frame but saw Houston battle back to get within two at 11-9.
> The Owls surged ahead 16-12 before the Cougars cut it to a three point Temple lead.
> From there, the Cherry & White took over, surging ahead to a 22-14 advantage.
> Houston had one more run left, cutting the lead to 23-18, but Temple got a Spells kill and a block from Spells and Grimshaw to close out the set and match.

Up Next:
> Temple will take on UCF in tomorrow's American Athletic Conference Championship beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+.