Owls' Volleyball Ready for Home Tilts versus USF and No. 24 UCF

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple Owls volleyball team is at home for the final time this season as it takes on USF and No. 24 UCF this weekend in McGonigle Hall. Temple will take on the Bulls on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. ET and then Golden Knights on Sunday, Nov. 20 at noon ET.

Following Friday's match with USF, the Owls will honor their three graduating seniors, Peyton Boyd, Kayla Spells, and Nikki Saito. Then on Sunday, Temple will host a post-match autograph session.

QUICK SETS

Currently the Owls are in ninth place with a 4-12 record in the AAC and 10-17 overall. Last Friday, the Cherry and White picked up an impressive win versus the fifth-place team in the AAC, Memphis Tigers, 25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 25-14, but were swept by SMU on Sunday, 10-25, 17-25, 21-25.
USF lost a pair of matches versus UCF and Cincinnati last weekend, dropping them to 9-17 overall and 3-11 in conference play. The pair of losses dropped them to 10th place in the AAC behind Temple.The Bulls were swept by UCF on Wednesday, 13-25, 18-25, 8-25 and dropped a four-set match to Cincinnati on Friday, 22-25, 25-18, 20-25, 19-25.
No. 24 UCF enters this weekend in second place of the AAC with an overall record of 23-1 and 15-1 in conference play. The Golden Knights dropped in-state rival USF on Wednesday in straight sets, 25-13, 25-18, 25-8. Two days later, the Knights won their 11th consecutive match of the season versus Cincinnati, 25-18, 25-10, 25-19.

OWL ABOUT TEMPLE IN 2022

Temple split its conference matches last weekend, moving to 10-17 overall and 4-12 in AAC play. Coming into the weekend, the Owls are in eight place in the conference. On Friday, Temple picked up its biggest win of the season versus the Memphis Tigers in four sets, 25-19, 25-18, 22-25, 25-14. In the match, the Owls hit .286, its second-best output of the season, and was the fourth-straight match the trio of Jelena Prolic, Taylor Davenport, and Peyton Boyd tallied double figure kills. Two days later, they fell to the UCF Golden Knights, 10-25, 17-25, 21-25.

So far this season, the Columbia, SC native is fourth in the conference with 412 kills and has averaged 3.71 kills/set, good for fifth in the conference.In 2022, Davenport has recorded 20 or more kills in eight matches.

With available records dating back to the 25-point scoring format (2008), the Owls recorded a program first earlier this season against Memphis (Oct. 25), as three players recorded 20 or more kills in a match. Led by junior Jelena Prolic and sophomore Taylor Davenport's 22 kills. In addition, redshirt senior Peyton Boyd pounded the hardwood with a career-high 20 kills, the first of back-to-back matches she recorded that exact number.

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 Owls' offense, tallying double-digit kills in 15 of the 27 matches. Prolic is second on the team with 274 kills and 22 service aces. On Oct. 5,Prolic had a career-high 24 putaways versus East Carolina. Additionally, Prolic has recorded 10 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. Most recently, in the four-set win to Memphis on Nov. 11, Prolic recorded 18 kills and 11 digs. Defensively, the junior is second on the team with 267 digs. 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. The Minneapolis, Minn., native has 89 kills and 42 blocks. On Nov. 11 versus Memphis, Tut tallied six kills and three blocks.

SETTING SITUATION

Setter Patrycja Zielinska has guided Temple's offense this season to a 5-12 overall record as a starter.A season ago, Zielinska recorded 827 assists in 31 matches. This season, the sophomore is seventh in the AAC, averaging 7.46 digs/set. In 2022, the Francizkow, Poland native, has dished out 666 assists already. On seven occasions this season, Zielinska has topped the 40-plus assists mark, including a career-high 63 versus SMU on Oct. 21. The sophomore is the team leader with 27 service aces.

Fellow setter Magdalena Rogalska has earned a 5-5 record as a starter. The Krakow, Poland native has 403 assists on the season. Like Zielinska, Rogalska has recorded 40 or more kills on multiple occasions this season. On Sept. 30 in a five-set win versus Tulane, Rogalska recorded 55 assists and followed it up with a career-high performance versus East Carolina with 58. On Oct. 30, Rogalska added 46 assists in the five-set win at Tulane.

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 a team-high 370 digs, averaging 3.46 digs/set. On Oct. 30 versus Tulane in the five-set win, Danielson recorded a season-high 26 digs. It was the fourth time this season that the Hawaii native has recorded 20 or more digs. Danielson had 23 digs on two occasions, including on Sept 10 at Cornell and on Oct 16 at USF.

BOYD'S BOILING

Redshirt senior Peyton Boyd had a career-defining match on Sunday, Oct 30, versus Tulane as she recorded her third double of the season with 20 kills and 15 digs. The right-side hitter had 33 attempts and just one error, leading to a .576 hitting percentage against the Green Wave. It was also the second time in three matches Boyd has tallied a career-high 20 kills. In the last nine matches, Boyd has recorded at least 13 kills in five of those contests, including the aforementioned pair of 20-kill matches. On Nov. 11 in Memphis, Boyd recorded 14 kills with a .464 hitting percentage, marking the fourth time this season the redshirt senior has hit over .400 in a match.

FIVE-SET PRESSURE

The Owls have an overall record of 9-14; in those 23 matches, they have played 10 five-set matches with a 7-3 record. Temple started the season perfectly in five-setters (5-0) and now has won two of their last three.

SCOUTING USF

Marta Cvitkovic leads the Bulls offensive attack with 250 kills. Cvitokic led the Bulls in the early season contest (Oct. 16) versus Temple, falling short of a double-double with 16 kills and nine digs. Teammate Maria Clara Andrade is the only other player on the USF roster with 200-plus kills on the season. Andrade comes into the weekend pair of matches with 214 kills.

TEMPLE VS. USF

Temple has won that last four matches, including the earlier season contest on Oct. 16, 2022, where the Owls improved to 12-15 all-time versus the Bulls. In the October match, redshirt senior Peyton Boyd had a double-double of 20 kills, 15 digs, while hitting .576.

SCOUTING UCF

McKenna Melville is in the top 10 in the AAC of points/set, kills/set, total kills, and hitting percentage. The outside hitter leads the conference with a 5.39 kills/set average and 5.98 points/set. Melville is second the AAC with 447 kills and sixth with a .324 hitting percentage.

TEMPLE VS. UCF

The Golden Knights lead the all-time series, 15-5, and have won the last 11 matches. Earlier this season, Temple visited Orlando and Melville led the match with 18 kills to along with seven digs, and two blocks.

For complete coverage of Temple volleyball, follow the Owls on social media @Temple_VB (Twitter), facebook.com/TempleOwls (Facebook), @temple.vb (Instagram), or visit the official home of Temple University Athletics at owlsports.com.

Owls' Volleyball Ready for Home Tilts versus USF and No. 24 UCF

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Peyton Boyd

Falanika Danielson

Taylor Davenport

Jelena Prolic

Magdalena Rogalska

Nikki Saito

Kayla Spells

Chudear Tut

Patrycja Zielinska

Temple University Athletics

Owls' Volleyball Ready for Home Tilts versus USF and No. 24 UCF

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Peyton Boyd

Falanika Danielson

Taylor Davenport

Jelena Prolic

Magdalena Rogalska

Nikki Saito

Kayla Spells

Chudear Tut

Patrycja Zielinska

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