Volleyball Opens Season with 2022 Hilton Philadelphia Penn's Landing Cherry & White Challenge

Friday, August 26

Philadelphia, Pa.

Noon ET

Temple University

Seton Hall

Photo by: Elita Odartei

Volleyball Opens Season with 2022 Hilton Philadelphia Penn's Landing Cherry & White Challenge

8.25.22 | Women's Volleyball

Watch (ESPN+) (Seton Hall)Watch (ESPN+) (Delaware)International Streams Temple Match Notes

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple volleyball team opens the season as it hosts the Hilton Philadelphia Penn's Landing Cherry and White Challenge on Friday with a pair of matches against Seton Hall and Philadelphia. The Owls will face Seton Hall at noon and Delaware at 7 p.m. Both matches will also be available on ESPN+.

SCHEDULE POSTER GIVEAWAY

Fans attending the noon match versus the Seton Hall Pirates will receive the 2022 Temple Women's Volleyball Schedule Poster.

OWL ABOUT TEMPLE IN 2022

As the season begins, the Linda Hampton-Keith Era has begun as head coach for the Temple Owls volleyball team, making her the ninth volleyball head coach in school history.
Hampton-Keith comes into the season with a career record of 67-56, a NCAA Regional appearance, in four years at NC State between 2016-29. Hampton-Keith takes over an Owls team that went 7-24 overall and 3-17 in AAC play a season ago.
This year roster includes 11 returners featuring one red-shirt senior, two juniors, and nine sophomores.

OFFENSIVE LEADERSHIP 2022

Temple comes into the 2022 season with a relatively young squad. The Owls lost four players from a season ago, including veterans Gem Grimshaw, Miray Bolukbasi, and Xeryah Salanoa, along with freshman Nina-Symone Williams. Grimshaw and Bolukbasi were the offensive leaders for the Owls last season, but this year's Owls will feature 11 returners.
Fifth-year senior Peyton Boyd and sophomore Taylor Davenport will be a focal point to this year's squad. The tandem are the returning leaders in kills of all the returners. Both were tied for third on the team with 150 kills. Last season, Boyd had the most kills in a season since her sophomore season of 2019 when she racked up 213. Davenport will make a change from middle blocker to outside hitter this season. At middle blocker in 2021, the Columbia, S.C. native led the Owls in blocks a season with 126, ranking her first all-time since the inception of the 25-point scoring format established 2008.

TRANSFER EXPERIENCE

The Owls begin 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.

SETTING SITUATION

All three of players that played the setter position will return in 2022, including sophomores Patrycja Zielinska, Magdalena Rogalska, and Nikki Shimao.
Poland's Zielinska saw the bulk of the playing time in 2021 as she led the team with 827 assists and 7.61 per set. The sophomore had 20 or more assists in 21 matches, while dishing out a career-high 49 assists versus Rider on Aug. 27.
Rogalska started three matches last season, but worked primarily as the backup setter for the Owls. The fellow Polish setter played in 15 matches with three starts. On Oct. 10 at Cincinnati, Rogalska recorded a career-high 44 assists.
Shimao saw time as the third setter on the team, while cracking double-digits in assists five times, including career-high 19 assists against Villanova.

DEFENDING THE BACK ROW

Coming off the 2020 AAC Libero of the Year award, then-freshman Falanika Danielson followed it up with another strong campaign in 2021. Danielson started all 31 matches for the Owls at libero last season and led the team with 470 digs, including five matches with 20 or more digs. Going in to 2022, Danielson has 797 career digs.

SCOUTING SETON HALL

Senior Madeline Matheny returns in 2022 as team's offensive leader. Matheny was second on the Seton Hall team in 2021 with 186 kills and is the only returner with triple-digit kills a year ago. Matheny was vital on defense as she tallied 259 digs, ranking her third on the Pirates team.
Speaking of digs, libero Anna Holland returns as the prime defender. In 2021, Holland was first on the Pirates with 426 digs and eighth in the Big East.
At setter, Taylor Jakubowski and Cagla Bengi each had 500+ assists in 2021. Jakubowski was the team leader with 553, while Bengi registered 508.

TEMPLE VS. SETON HALL

Temple leads the all-time series between the two school at 8-2 with the last match occurring in 2015 as Seton Hall defeated Temple, 3-0.

SCOUTING DELAWARE

The Blue Hens return five starters, including 2021 All-CAA selection Lani Mason and second team All-CAA honorees, Ezgi Basaranlar and Lauryn Richardson.
Mason led Delaware last season with 344 kills and 404.5 points, while ranking second on the team with 245 digs. The setter Basaranlar led the team with 774 assists.
Richardson ranked third on Delaware with 214 kills, including recording 10 kills or more in six matches.

TEMPLE VS. DELAWARE

Temple leads the all-time series versus Delaware 22-18. Friday will mark the rubber match over the past three seasons in McGonigle Hall. In the previous two seasons, each team has one a match. In 2021, the Blue Hens defeated TU in four sets, while in the spring of 2021, the Owls edged Delaware in five sets.

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.