Volleyball Drops Conference Opener to SMU, 3-1

Friday, September 24

Dallas, Texas

8:00 PM

Temple University

4-8,0-1AAC

SMU

6-6,2-0AAC

Temple

SMU

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Volleyball Drops Conference Opener to SMU, 3-1

9.24.21 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Temple (4-8, 0-1) dropped its first game of conference play to the SMU Mustangs (6-6, 2-0) by three sets to one. After winning the first set, the Owls were unable to capitalize on the opportunity, dropping the next three.

Recapping the Day

Temple 1, SMU 3 (25-23, 18-25, 22-25, 19-25)

> The Mustangs started out the first set on the front foot with an 8-2 run to force Temple to take a timeout. A kill by Kayla Spells and a service ace by Peyton Boyd on back-to-back plays gave the Owls some momentum which the Cherry and White capitalized on with kills from Gem Grimshaw and Miray Bolukbasi.
> Shortly thereafter, a service ace from Katerina Papazoglou and a block from Taylor Davenport brought the Owls within two midway through the first set. A 4-0 run from the Owls late in the set thanks to points from Bolukbasi, Boyd, and Davenport gave the Owls their first lead of the game, and Temple was able to win the first set, 25-23.
> In the second set, after falling behind 5-2 early on, kills by Grimshaw and Boyd got the Owls on a 3-0 run to tie the match at five. SMU took control of the set from there, as a 7-1 run put the Mustangs out in front to force a Temple timeout. Kills by Grimshaw and Bolukbasi were not enough to change momentum, and SMU took the second set, 25-18.
> A better start to the third set gave the Owls an early lead, 6-5. Kills by Boyd and Davenport coupled with a few service errors by the Mustangs saw the Owls win the race to 10. A few points later, consecutive kills by Spells and Grimshaw put the Owls up 15-13. After momentarily losing the lead, kills by Bolukbasi and Boyd regained the lead for the Owls to force the SMU timeout. From there, the Mustangs were able to take control of the third set to win, 25-22.
> A hot start to the fourth set put the Owls up 4-1, but SMU responded with a 5-0 run of its own to take the advantage early in the set. Four straight points regained momentum for the Owls thanks to a kill by Bolukbasi and a service ace from Grimshaw. The lead did not last for long though as the Mustangs counter-punched with a big run of their own to be the first to 15. After a late run by SMU gave the Mustangs the lead, kills by Grimshaw and Spells as well as a service ace by Davenport trimmed the deficit, but it was too little too late as SMU won the final set by a score of 25-19.

Individual Highlights
> Bolukbasi: team-high 14 kills
> Double-doubles: Grimshaw (13 kills, 10 digs) and Patrycja Zielinska (44 assists, 11 digs)

Quotable: Head Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam

On the match:
> Overall I thought we had our chances. If we manage that one rotation better in the third set, and we end up winning that set, it could have been a different outcome."

> "The story of the day is the unforced errors. We need to manage our unforced errors better. and also we have to do a better job in our system play. Our in-system play was pretty good our out-of-system play we need to do a better job."

Up Next
> Temple continues its road trip on Sept. 26 (2 pm) against the Memphis Tigers. The match can be viewed on ESPN+.