Volleyball Set for Midweek Action to Start Week Three of AAC Play

Wednesday, October 5

Philadelphia, Pa.

7 PM ET

Temple University

East Carolina

Photo by: Maya Burgos

Volleyball Set for Midweek Action to Start Week Three of AAC Play

10.4.22 | Women's Volleyball

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Owls will face ECU on Wednesday; Cincinnati on Friday

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple volleyball team continues its four-match homestand with the final two contests that includes a Wednesday, Sept. 5 date versus the East Carolina Pirates and then finish out the week versus the Cincinnati Bearcats on Friday, Sept. 7. Both matches will air on ESPN+ and begin at 7 p.m. ET.

QUICK SETS

Coming into this weekend, the Owls are tied for seventh in the AAC with a 7-8 overall record and 1-3 in AAC action. Last weekend, the Owls split their weekend with Tulane and Houston. On Friday, the Owls defeated Tulane by the score of 24-26, 21-25, 24-26, 25-22, 15-11 and then fell in four sets to Houston on Sunday, 21-25, 25-23, 14-25, 25-21.
ECU is tied with the Owls for seventh place in the conference with a 1-3 and 6-10 overall. The Pirates split with Houston and Tulane as well last weekend. ECU lost to Houston in three sets on Friday night, 23-25, 22-25, 19-25 and then picked up its first AAC win after defeating Tulane in four sets on Sunday afternoon, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16, 25-19.
Cincinnati enters the weekend also tied for seventh place in the AAC with Temple and ECU.The Bearcats are 3-11 overall and 1-3 in AAC play. UC lost both of its matches last weekend versus SMU and Memphis by a 3-1 margin. On Friday, Cincinnati fell 20-25, 17-25, 25-22, 17-25 to the Mustangs and then to 24-26, 25-10, 20-25, 22-25 to the Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

OWL ABOUT TEMPLE IN 2022

Temple comes into the weekend 7-8 overall and 1-3 in AAC play. In the second weekend of AAC play, the Owls picked up its conference win of the season on Friday against Tulane in four sets, but lost to the Houston Cougars on Sunday in highly contested four-set match.
Sophomore Taylor Davenport continues to be one conference's offensive leaders. On Sept. 30 versus Tulane, the Cherry and White outside hitter recorded her fourth match of 20 or more kills this season as she led the Owls in the match with 24. So far this season, Davenport has averaged 3.93 k/s, good for third in the conference. She's also tied for second in the conference with 240 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 nine of the 15 matches. Prolic is second on the team with 138 kills and had a career-high 19 putaways versus Delaware on Aug. 26. Additionally, Prolic has recorded three 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.

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 8.48 digs/set.In 2022, the Francizkow, Poland native has dished out 390 assists already.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 3-2 as a starter. The Krakow, Poland native has 195 assists on the season, including a career-high 55 in the win versus Tulane on Sept. 30.

CHASING 1000-CAREER DIGS

Going into 2022, Falanika Danielson had 797 career digs after a career-high 470 in 2021.The 2020 AAC Libero of the Year is looking for her 1000th-career dig and is currently at 992. Danielson has recorded 195 digs already in 2022 while averaging 3.20 digs/set.The Ewa Beach, Hawaii native, set a season-high in digs versus Cornell on Sept. 10 as she recorded a season-high 23, marking the 16th time in her career Danielson achieved the 20-plus assists mark.

DEFENDING THE BACK ROW

Through 15 season matches, freshman defensive specialist Nalani McBride recorded 101digs, including a career-high 13 in the five-set win versus Tulane on Sept. 30. On two different occasions this season,McBride has added 11 digs, versus St. Francis and Cornell.Fellow defensive specialist Nikki Shimao also played a big part in the Owls' success as she set a career-high 15 digs against UAlbany, totaling 116 so far this season.

MIDDLE MANAGEMENT

Through 15 matches into her career, 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 65 attacks, the most in the AAC, and has averaged the fourth-best 1.08 blocks/set in the conference. 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 second 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 123 total team blocks and ranking No. 6 with 2.02 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 7-8, and in those 15 matches, they have played five five-set matches with a perfect 5-0 record. On Sept. 30, the Owls recorded their latest five-set win as they defeated Tulane, 24-26, 25-17, 14-25, 25-22, 15-11.

SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA

Outside hitter Angeles Alderete enters this weekend ranked fourth in the American with 234 kills and 3.90 kills/set. Setter Payton Evenstad is one of the three players in the conference with 20 or more service aces. This season the Pirate setter is second in the conference with 26 assists and tied for second with .43 aces/set. Defensively, ECU has a trio of defensive players that lead the team. Kianie Cummings (1.25) and Shaylynn Hall (1.18)are first and second in the AAC, respectively in blocks/set. Additionally, Hall is third in the conference with 60 total blocks. Libero Kenzie Beckham is fifth in the conference with 3.63 digs/set.

TEMPLE VS. EAST CAROLINA

Temple enters this weekend's match with 9-4 all-time advantage over the Pirates. The two schools have split the series over the past three seasons. Entering into the final match last season, the Owls picked up their seventh win of the season to finish 7-24 as Miray Bolukbasi led Temple with 27 kills in the five-set win.

SCOUTING CINCINNATI

Setter Caroline Endres is one of the best setters in the AAC as she's one of three players that averages 10 or more assists per set. Endres ranks third in the conference with 10.08 assists/set and has totaled 524 dimes this year. Libero Payton Frederick ranks eighth in the AAC with 3.52 digs/set. Freshman outside hitter Carly Glendinning is the team's leading hitter with 135 kills and averages 2.81 kills/set.

TEMPLE VS. CINCINNATI

Temple leads the all-time matchup with a 11-8 record. Over the last two years, the two schools have split the four matches with UC winning the fall 2021 series, but Temple earned the two wins in 2021 spring season.In the prior three meetings, in 2018-19, the Bearcats won three straight victories.

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