Comeback Falls Short as Volleyball Falls to Villanova, 3-2

Friday, September 17

McGonigle Hall

5:30 PM

Temple University

3-6,0-0AAC

Villanova

7-4,0-0Big East

Villanova

Temple

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Comeback Falls Short as Volleyball Falls to Villanova, 3-2

9.17.21 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple volleyball team came back from two sets down to force a fifth set before falling to visiting Villanova, 3-2, in the second game of the City Classic Friday evening at McGonigle Hall. The Owls fall to 3-6 on the season while the Wildcats improved to 7-4.

How it Happened

> Villanova opened a quick 6-2 lead in the first set and would extend the margin to seven, 15-8, on a run of four straight points.
> Temple cut the margin to 15-10 on a Gem Grimshaw kill, but the Wildcats answered with five of the next six points for their biggest lead, 20-11.
>The Owls looked to gain some momentum, tallying four of the next five points with Kayla Spells accounting for the final two on a kill and block solo to cut the deficit to 22-16. The Wildcats, however, closed the match by scoring three of the final four points for the 25-17 win.
> Set two saw Villanova take the first three points, but this time Temple did not let the visitors expand the margin until later in the contest.
> Following a Peyton Boyd kill that closed Temple's deficit to 16-14, Villanova ran off four straight to take its largest margin of the set, 20-14.
> The Owls recovered with four of the next five points to cut the margin back to thee, 21-18, but the Wildcats would again close strong on a 4-1 run to win 25-19.
> Villanova again started off strong, taking the first three points of the third set. The Owls, however, answered strong with four consecutive points to take their first lead of the match, ,4-3.
> The lead would change hands four times before the Owls built a three-point cushion (13-10) on a 4-1 run capped by a Spells kill.
> Temple would run off five of the next six points to take a commanding 21-14 lead en route to a 25-18 victory in the set.
> In the fourth set Villanova again took an early 3-0 lead and extended it to 10-6 before Temple went on a 10-4 run to take its first lead 16-14.
> The lead then went back and forth until the Owls, with the set tied at 19, scored five of the next seven points to take a 24-21 lead.
> Villanova cut it to 24-23 before Miray Bolukbasi made a kill to even the match at two sets apiece.
> Temple never led in the fifth and final set as Villanova pulled away with four straight points to take a 9-5 lead. The Owls kept it close, trailing by four at 12-8, before the Wildcats closed out the match with three straight points for the 15-8 win.

Individual Highlights

> Grimshaw led the Owls with 16 kills and a career-high 20 digs.
> Bolukbasi also recorded double-figure kills with 12 while Spells had a season high with nine kills.
> Chelci Banks had a career high with seven kills while Falanika Danielson set a career high with four aces to go along with her 13 digs.
> Patrycia Zielinska led the Owls with 27 assists while Nikki Shimao had a career high 19 assists.

Quotable: Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam

> "We just needed to be more consistent. We need to work on our unforced errors and cleaner execution. Our morale was good though. We put ourselves in a hole and did not give up. We put ourselves in position to win but came up a little short in the end."
> "We just need to keep working and keep improving, especially with unforced errors and execution."

Up Next

> Temple continues play at the City Classic with two matches on Saturday. The Owls take on Penn at 11 a.m. before closing out the tournament with Princeton at 6:30 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.