Volleyball Heads to Florida to Face No.24 UCF and USF

Friday, October 14

Orlando, Fla.

7 PM ET

Temple University

UCF

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Volleyball Heads to Florida to Face No.24 UCF and USF

10.13.22 | Women's Volleyball

Watch (ESPN+) (UCF)Live Stats (UCF)Watch (ESPN+) (USF)Live Stats (USF)Match Notes

PHILADELPHIA - After two straight weeks at home, Temple will travel to Florida to play No. 24 UCF and USF. On Friday, Oct.14, the Owls will face off against UCF in Orlando at 7 p.m. ET and then travel to Tampa to take on USF on Sunday, Oct.16 at 1 p.m. Both matches will air on ESPN+.

QUICK SETS

Coming into this weekend, the Owls are tied for ninth in the AAC with a 7-10 overall record and 1-5 in AAC action. Last weekend, the Owls dropped back-to-back five-set matches, falling to East Carolina and Cincinnati. On Wednesday, the Owls lost to the Pirates by the score of 21-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 10-15, and lost to the Bearcats on Friday, 22-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-20, 8-15.
No. 24 UCF is in second place in the conference with a 5-1 record and 13-1 overall. Last weekend, the Knights split with Houston and Tulane. UCF dropped its first match of the season on Friday in four sets to the Cougars, 23-25, 25-25, 24-26, 22-25, and then returned to the win column on Sunday with a sweep of Tulane, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20.
USF lost both of its last weekend matches in four sets to Tulane and Houston. On Friday, Tulane defeated the Bulls, 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 27-25, and then fell to the Cougars on Sunday by the score of 13-25, 13-25, 25-23, 12-25.

OWL ABOUT TEMPLE IN 2022

Temple comes into the weekend 7-10 overall and 1-5 in AAC play. Last week, The Owls played a pair of matches where they lost in back-to-back five set matches. This season the Owls have played in 17 matches, including seven five-set matches. This season the Owls won their first five five setters, but lost back-to-back matches to ECU and Cincinnati last weekend and dropped to 5-2 overall this season. In conference play, the Owls are 1-2 in five-set affairs.
Sophomore Taylor Davenport continues to be one conference's offensive leaders. On Oct. 7 versus Cincinnati, the Cherry and White outside hitter recorded her fifth match of 20 or more kills this season as she led the Owls in the match with 22.So far this season, Davenport has averaged 3.93 kills/set, good for third in the conference. She's also tied for second in the conference with 279 total kills.

TRANSFER EXPERIENCE

The Owls began this season with two new faces to Philly, but not new faces to DI collegiate volleyball. Junior Jelena Prolic and sophomore Chudear Tut were added to head coach Linda Hampton-Keith's roster in April and will look to bolster the Owls' offensive attack in 2022. Prolic spent the past three seasons with Coastal Carolina, earning herself two Sun Belt East Championships and two trips to the conference championship round. The Subotica, Serbia native played in 73 matches for the Chanticleers from 2019-21, tallying 176 kills and digging 197 balls from the outside hitter position. Tut, a former MEAC Rookie of the Year, Second Team All-MEAC, All-Tournament Team from Coppin State will help hold the middle for the Owls. During the spring season of 2021, Tut led the team with 56 blocks and second with 151 kills. Additionally, she recorded 10 or more kills 10 times and double-digit blocks in all but one contest. Just last season, the Minneapolis, Minn. native missed the first half of the year due to injury but finished with a school-record .353 hitting percentage on 98 kills.
So far in 2022, Prolic has been key to the offense, tallying double-digit kills in 10 of the 17 matches. Prolic is second on the team with 171 kills and had a career-high 24 putaways versus East Carolina on Oct. 5. Additionally, Prolic has recorded six double-doubles this season, including back-to-back matches on Sept. 30 versus Tulane with 15 kills and 13 digs and then 11 kills and 15 digs on Oct. 2 versus Houston.Prolic is second on the team with 171 kills and 180 digs, and 13 aces and Tut was big in the four-set victory over Army on Sept. 3 as she recorded 12 kills, her first double-digit kill match in an Owls uniform. Currently the Minneapolis, Minn., native is fourth on the team with 73 kills and third with 38 blocks.

SETTING SITUATION

Setter Patrycja Zielinska has led the Temple offense this season to a 4-6 overall record. A season ago, Zielinska recorded 827 assists in 31 matches. This season, the sophomore is seventh in the AAC, averaging 8.12 digs/set.In 2022, the Francizkow, Poland native has dished out 414 assists already.Zielinska came off the bench on Saturday, Oct. 7, versus Cincinnati to lead the Owls with 24 assists. On two occasions this season, Zielinska has topped the 50-plus assists mark twice in a match. On Sept. 3 versus St. Francis (Brooklyn), Zielinska guided the Owls to a five-set win with a career-high 57 assists.
Fellow setter Magdalena Rogalska has earned a 3-4 as a starter. The Krakow, Poland native has 270 assists on the season. Like Zielinska, Rogalska has recorded 50 or more kills on two separate occasions this season.On Sept. 30 in a five-set win versus Tulane, Rogalska recorded 55 assists and then followed it up with a career-high performance versus East Carolina with 58.

1000-CAREER DIGS CLUB

Going into 2022, Falanika Danielson had 797 career digs after a career-high 470 in 2021. The 2020 AAC Libero of the Year reached the elusive 1000th career dig mark on Oct. 5 versus East Carolina when she recorded 17 digs. So far in 2022, the Ewa Beach, Hawaii native has tallied 230 digs, averaging 3.24 digs/set. Danielson set a season-high 23 digs versus Cornell on Sept. 10, marking the 16th time in her career Danielson achieved the 20-plus assists mark.

DEFENDING THE BACK ROW

Through 17 matches this season, freshman defensive specialist Nalani McBride recorded 131 digs, including a career-high 25 in the five-set match versus East Carolina on Oct. 5.On three other occasions, the Stafford, Va. native has tallied double-digit kills, including 13 versus Tulane on Sept. 30 and 11 on two separate occasions.Fellow defensive specialist Nikki Shimao also played a big part in the Owls' back row as she's accounted for 135 digs, including a career-high 15 digs against UAlbany on Sept. 9. Shimao has recorded double-digits in seven matches in 2022.

MIDDLE MANAGEMENT

Middle blocker Samantha Jo Mikosky has been a steady force, not just as a middle blocker but also at the service line. So far this season, Mikosky has blocked 70 attacks, the most in the AAC, and has averaged the sixth-best 1.07 blocks/set in the conference. Additionally, Mikosky has recorded five or more blocks, including on Sept. 10 versus Colgate, the freshman tallied the third-best kills (11) total in school history. From the service line, the Bethlehem, Pa. native is tied for the third most service aces on the team with 11, including a career-high three in the five-set win versus Cornell on Sept. 10.

FRONT LINE DEFENSE

The Owls are tied for No. 4 in the AAC conference with 141 total team blocks and ranking No. 8 in the conference with 1.99 blocks/set. So far in 2022, the Owls have totaled 10 or more blocks in four separate matches, including a season-high 16 on Sept. 17 versus Penn.

FIVE-SET PERSEVERANCE

The Owls have an overall record of 7-10, and in those 17 matches, they have played seven five-set matches with a record of 5-2 record. Temple started off the season perfect in five-setters, but recently lost their last two five-set matches to East Carolina (Oct. 5) and Cincinnati (Oct. 7).

SCOUTING UCF

As a team the Knights lead the AAC in hitting percentage (.301), opponent hitting percentage (.173), assists/set (13.16), kills/set (14.16), and blocks/set (2.50). Individually, UCF is led by McKenna Melville, who was collected the 2022 AAC Preseason Player of the Year and has already tabbed AAC Offensive Player of the Week four times this season. Melville leads the AAC and is second in the nation with 5.44 kills/set. Mellville also is tops in the conference and NCAA, averaging 6.07 points/set.

TEMPLE VS. UCF

Temple enters this weekend's match with 7-14 all-time record against the Knights. The last time Temple earned a victory over the Knights occurred when the Owls pulled out a season split in 2017 with a five-set win that October. Overall, UCF has won the last nine matches versus Owls.

SCOUTING USF

All-Conference selection Marta Cvitkovic leads the Bulls offensively this season with 182.5 points that includes a team-leading 153 kills and 17 service aces. Teammate Maria Clara Andrade has 152 kills on the season with 15 service aces. Andrade has dug 130 attacks this season, second to libero CC Clausen's team-high 229. Amiree Hendricks-Walker has averaged a team-leading 1.08 blocks/set, totaling 64 blocks.

TEMPLE VS. USF

The Bulls lead the all-time matchup with a 16-10 record. Since 2016, the two schools have split 12 matches. Last year, Temple and USF played a four-setter, with the Owls edging out the Bulls behind Peyton Boyd and Miray Bolukbasi notching a combined 28 kills. Additionally, earlier last season, on Oct 15, the Owls pulled out a five-set win after being two sets down. Temple was led by Gem Grimshaw who had 18 kills in the comeback victory.

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