Volleyball Opens Season with Split

Friday, August 27

McGonigle Hall

7:00 PM

Temple University

0-1,0-0AAC

Delaware

2-0,0-0CAA

Delaware

Temple

Photo by: Elita Odartei

Volleyball Opens Season with Split

8.27.21 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Delaware Box Score (PDF)Rider Box Score (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple volleyball team opened the season with a split on day one of the 2021 Temple Invitational. The Owls topped reigning MAAC Champion, Rider, 3-2, to start the action, but fell 3-1 to Delaware in the nightcap.

Temple 3, Rider 2 (25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 20-25, 15-1)
> Temple won the first two sets, before Rider stormed back to tie the match at 2-2.
> The Owls left no doubt in the fifth set, however, outscoring the Broncs 15-1 to take the set and match.
> Temple hit .329 for the match, buoyed by an eye-popping .833 attack in the fifth and final frame.
> More impressively, Temple did not allow Rider to score in the fifth, with the Broncs' only point coming on a Owls' serving error.
> Overall, Temple racked up 18 team blocks, led by a career-best 15 from Taylor Davenport, which included three solo stuffs.
> On offense, Miray Bolukbasi and Gem Grimshaw led the attack with 19 and 18 kills, respectively. Grimshaw added 16 digs for a double-double.
> Falanika Danielson had a match-best 26 digs, while rookie setter Patrycja Zielinska dished out 49 kills in her first match as an Owl.
> Katerina Papazoglou (nine kills, six digs) and Chelci Banks (six kills) rounded out the box score.

Delaware 3, Temple 1 (25-8, 21-25, 25-22, 25-15)
> Temple struggled out of the gate, as Delaware's high powered offense opened a 1-0 lead with a lopsided set one.
> The Owls rebounded with a solid second set to tie the match at 1-1.
> Delaware took a tight third set to regain the momentum and it carried over into the fourth as the Mud Hens completed the win.
> Temple was held to a .076 attack, while Delaware hit .298.
> Papazoglou led the Owls with nine kills, adding seven digs, while Grimshaw and rookie Leonie Freytag each added seven kills.
> Danielson led the Owls' defense with 22 digs, while Zielinska dished out 27 assists.

Quotable: Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam
> On Rider: "I thought our energy level dipped in the third and fourth sets, but the energy level was great in the fifth set. They did a good job serving and they also did a good job being alert on defense and taking care of the stuff at the net."
> On Delaware: "We have some areas we need to work on, serve-receive needs to be better, first kill, and our blocking as well."
> On Stanford: "We're going to be playing arguable one of the best teams in the country tomorrow and I want us to enjoy the experience, at the end of the day, it's just volleyball. But we also want to do a good job. I think if we improve a few components of our game, that's what we want. We want to put up a good fight."

Up Next
> Temple will take on 2019 NCAA National Champion, Stanford, on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. at McGonigle Hall.