Volleyball Closes Out Season at ECU and Cincinnati

PHILADELPHIA - The Owls volleyball team closes out the regular season this week on the road, starting with a Thanksgiving Eve match at East Carolina at 2 p.m. and then finish the season on Saturday at Cincinnati at 4 p.m. Both matches will be available on ESPN+.

QUICK SETS

The Owls lost a pair of matches last weekend, dropping them to 10-19 overall and 4-14 in the AAC, putting them in 10th place of the AAC. Last Friday, the Cherry and White fell in a heartbreaker in five sets to USF after going ahead 2-0. Temple fell in the Friday match to the USF Bulls, 25-19, 31-29, 23-25, 23-25, 9-15, and then was swept by No. 24 UCF on Sunday, 17-25, 20-25, 22-25.
ECU enters this week in seventh place in the AAC with a 6-11 record and 11-19 overall after splitting last weekend's matches with No. 24 UCF and USF. On Friday, the Pirates were swept by the Knights, 18-25, 20-25, 14-25, but rallied on Sunday to defeat the USF Bulls, 26-24, 25-21, 18-25, 25-21.
The Bearcats come into their two matches this week with a conference record of 7-11 and 11-19 overall. Cincinnati split its pair of matches at Tulsa and Wichita State. On Friday, UC swept Tulsa, 25-15, 25-23, 25-13, but then was swept by Wichita State, 16-25, 25-19, 18-25, 21-25.

OWL ABOUT TEMPLE IN 2022

Temple split its conference matches last weekend, moving to 10-19 overall and 4-14 in AAC play. Coming into the weekend, the Owls are in 10th place in the conference. On Friday versus USF, Temple jumped out to a 2-0 advantage, but were unable to hold on for its 11th win of the season. In the match, junior Jelena Prolic added her 11th double-double of the season with 19 kills and 11 digs. It also marked the 11th time this season that Prolic, redshirt senior Peyton Boyd, and Taylor Davenport recorded double-figure kills in the same match.
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 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.
So far this season, Davenport is third in the conference with 435 kills and has averaged 3.62 kills/set, good for fifth in the conference.In 2022, Davenport has recorded 20 or more kills in eight matches.

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 16 of the 29 matches. Prolic is second on the team with 301 kills and 23 service aces. On Oct. 5,Prolic had a career-high 24 putaways versus East Carolina. Additionally, Prolic has recorded 11 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 five-set loss to USF on Nov. 18, Prolic recorded 19 kills and 11 digs. Defensively, the junior is second on the team with 288 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 96 kills and 50 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 5-14 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 7.62 assists/set. In 2022, the Francizkow, Poland native has dished out 752 assists already. On eight 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 and seventh in the conference with 29 service aces.
Fellow setter Magdalena Rogalska has earned a 5-5 record as a starter. The Krakow, Poland native has 421 assists on the season. Like Zielinska, Rogalska has recorded 40 or more assists 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 405 digs, averaging 3.52 digs/set. On Oct 30 versus Tulane in the five-set win, Danielson recorded a season-high 26 digs. Just last weekend, Danielson recorded her fifth 20-plus dig match this season on Nov 18 versus USF with a team-high 21.

BOYD'S BOILING

Redshirt senior Peyton Boyd had a career-defining match on Sunday, Oct 30, versus Tulane, 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 11 matches, Boyd has recorded at least 13 kills in six of those contests, including the aforementioned pair of 20-kill matches. Other notables include the Nov 11 match versus 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, and just last weekend versus USF on Nov 18, Boyd recorded 17 kills as she hit .256.

FIVE-SET PRESSURE

The Owls have an overall record of 10-19; in those 29 matches, they have played 11 five-set matches with a 7-4 record. Temple started the season perfectly in five-setters (5-0).

SCOUTING ECU

Angeles Alderete was named to the AAC Honor Roll on Monday as she averaged 5.29 points/set while hitting .253 last week. She had 23 kills in the win against South Florida. On the season, Alderete is second in the conference with 465 kills and third with 3.97 kills/set.

TEMPLE VS. ECU

The Owls lead the all-time series, 9-5. Earlier this season, the Pirates won in Philadelphia by the score of 3-2. In the match, Temple had an advantage in many statistical categories, but the Pirates were able to win. The Owls tallied 76 kills compared to ECU's 52. Jelena Prolic led TU with a double-double of a career-high 24 kills and 11 digs.

SCOUTING CINCINNATI

Setter Carolina Endres leads the Bearcats' offense this season with 9.30 assists/set, good for fifth in the AAC. Endres leads the offense with five hitters recording triple-digit kills, with Carly Glennding leading with 294 putaways, while Abby Walker follows right behind with 260 kills, hitting .260 on the season.

TEMPLE VS. CINCINNATI

The Owls lead the all-time series, 11-10, and have won the last six matches. Earlier this season, the Bearcats won in Philadelphia by the score of 3-2 as UC's Avry Tatum and the Cherry and White's Taylor Davenport went back and forth, matching each other with 22 kills.

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Volleyball Closes Out Season at ECU and Cincinnati

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Peyton Boyd

Falanika Danielson

Taylor Davenport

Jelena Prolic

Magdalena Rogalska

Chudear Tut

Patrycja Zielinska

Temple University Athletics

Volleyball Closes Out Season at ECU and Cincinnati

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Peyton Boyd

Falanika Danielson

Taylor Davenport

Jelena Prolic

Magdalena Rogalska

Chudear Tut

Patrycja Zielinska

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