Volleyball to Host Tulsa and Wichita State This Weekend

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple Owls volleyball team will host a pair of AAC teams this weekend as they continue conference play. On Friday, the Owls will face Tulsa at 7 p.m. ET and then face off against Wichita State on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Both matches will be available on ESPN+.

On Friday night, the Owls will host Pacific Islander Night and will pass out leis to the first 100 fans in attendance and Sunday, they will welcome back letterwinners and alumni.

QUICK SETS

Coming into this weekend, Temple is tied for eighth in the AAC with a conference record of 3-9 and an overall record 9-14. Last weekend, the Owls split its matches against No. 23 Houston and Tulane. On Friday, Temple fell to the Cougars in straight sets, 18-25, 20-25, 13-25, and then on Sunday, the Owls picked up their seventh five-set match of the season against Tulane, 20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-27, 12-15.
The Golden Hurricane lost a pair of matches to the Florida schools last weekend and fell to 3-8 in the conference and 10-13 overall. On Friday, Tulsa lost to No. 25 UCF in four sets, 19-25, 8-25, 25-21, 20-25, and then fell in straights to USF on Sunday afternoon, 20-25, 16-25, 22-25.
Wichita State enters in fifth place of the AAC this weekend with a 6-5 conference record and 11-11 overall. Last weekend the Shockers defeated USF, 3-0, by the score of 25-15, 25-19, 25-7 on Friday night but fell to No. 25 UCF on Sunday, 25-21, 18-25, 23-25, 16-25.

OWL ABOUT TEMPLE IN 2022

As the season begins, the Linda Hampton-Keith Era has started as head coach for the Temple Owls volleyball team, making her the ninth head coach in school history. Hampton-Keith comes into the season with a career record of 67-56, an NCAA Regional appearance in four years at NC State between 2016-19. Hampton-Keith takes over an Owls team that went 7-24 overall and 3-17 in AAC play a season ago. This year's roster includes 11 returners featuring one redshirt senior, two juniors, and nine sophomores.
Temple split their conference matches last weekend, moving to 9-14 overall and 3-9 in AAC play. Coming into the weekend, the Owls are tied for eighth place in the conference with Tulane and East Carolina. On Friday, the Owls dropped to nationally-ranked Houston in straight sets. Still, they returned to the win column with a five-set victory over Tulane on Sunday afternoon, improving their record to 7-3 in five-set affairs this season.
With available records dating back to the 25-point scoring format (2008), the Owls recorded a program first against Memphis on Sunday, Nov. 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 two times this season she's recorded that exact number.
The sophomore Davenport continues to be one conference's offensive leaders. In the Oct. 23 match versus Memphis, Davenport recorded her seventh match of 20 or more kills this season.
So far this season, the Columbia, SC native has an AAC-best 339 kills and averaged 3.85 kills/set, good for third in the conference.
Davenport had a career day from the service line on Oct. 21 versus SMU, where she recorded six service aces.

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 12 of the 23 matches. Prolic is second on the team with 227 kills and 20 service aces. On Oct. 5,Prolic had a career-high 24 putaways versus East Carolina. Additionally, Prolic has recorded seven 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 Memphis on Oct. 23, Prolic recorded 22 kills and 12 digs. Defensively, Prolic is second on the team with 229 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 79 kills and 38 blocks.

SETTING SITUATION

Setter Patrycja Zielinska has guided Temple's offense this season to a 4-9 overall record. A season ago, Zielinska recorded 827 assists in 31 matches. This season, the sophomore is seventh in the AAC, averaging 7.91 digs/set. In 2022, the Francizkow, Poland native, has dished out 553 assists already. On three occasions this season, Zielinska has topped the 50-plus assists mark, including a career-high 63 versus SMU on Oct. 21. The sophomore is the team leader with 20 service aces.
Fellow setter Magdalena Rogalska has earned a 5-5 record as a starter. The Krakow, Poland native has 373 assists on the season. Like Zielinska, Rogalska has recorded 50 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.

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 305 digs, averaging 3.32 digs/set. Just last week 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.

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 93 attacks, the most in the AAC, and has averaged 1.01 blocks/set, tied for seventh in the conference. Additionally, Mikosky has recorded five or more blocks eight times, including on Sept 10 versus Colgate, the freshman tallied the third-best kills (11) total in school history. On Oct 16 at USF, the freshman recorded nine blocks, the second most of her rookie campaign. From the service line, the Bethlehem, Pa. native has the fourth most service aces on the team with 11, including a career-high three in the five-set win versus Cornell on Sept 10.

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.

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 and now has won two of their last three.

SCOUTING TULSA

The Golden Hurricane's Kayley Cassaday is second in the conference with 4.36 kills/set. Cassaday has amassed a conference-best 379 kills this season and is second with 4.72 kills/set. Behind the service line, Marta Pecalli ranks in the top ten of the league's best of servers. Pecalli, on the season, has 27 aces, tied for sixth in the conference with .31 aces/set.

TEMPLE VS. TULSA

Temple enters this weekend's match tied Tulsa all-time with a 7-7 record, but earlier this season, on Sept 25, the Golden Hurricane knocked off the Owls in Tulsa, 3-0 (25-17, 23-14, 25-13) as Kayley Cassaday had a match-high 17 kills, while the Owl's Taylor Davenport had a team-high 10 kills.

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE

Natalie Foster leads the Shockers and is fourth in the AAC with a .349 hitting percentage on 237 kills for the season. Additionally, setter Kayce Litzau is third in the conference with 9.68 assists/set and 823 total assists.

TEMPLE VS. WICHITA STATE

Temple enters this weekend's match trailing in the all-time series with a 2-6 record against Wichita State. Earlier this season (Sept 23), the Shockers defeated the Owls 25-13, 25-21, 25-15. In the match, Wichita State had three players with seven or more kills, including Brylee Kelly (9), Natalie Foster (8), and Sophia Rohling (7). The Shockers also held the Owls to a .000 hitting percentage in part to six team blocks and 29 hitting errors.

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.

Temple University Athletics

Volleyball to Host Tulsa and Wichita State This Weekend

Related Videos