Championship Celebration Series: The 2002 Temple Volleyball Team

In the lore's of the Temple Volleyball program, the 2002 season may be regarded as the best team ever in program history. Under the guidance of head coach Bob Bertucci during that magical season 20 years ago, the Owls finished with a 29-7 (13-1 A10) record, an Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Championship, and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.

Temple's 2002 team and its players' statistics from that season can be found sprinkled in the record book even two decades later, finishing that year with the fifth-most wins in school history.

The team still holds the single-season school records in kills (2,271), hitting attempts (5,716), and assists (2,073), and is second with 2,449 digs. Individually, hitter Xu Yun is third all-time in single-season history with 607 kills and second with 1,420 attempts. Setter Alison Runk set the single-season record with 1,505 assists.

Going into 2002, senior captain Solana Lee looked to be the status quo at the setter position. In 2001, Lee led the Owls with 1422 assists, but Bertucci entered that season with the plan to hand the reigns over to sophomore Alison Runk. As a freshman, Runk played in all 32 matches and accumulated 91 assists.

It was a welcome transition for Lee, who knew that it would help that team all around.

"Honestly, she (Alison) was stronger, had more accurate hands, and was better blocker," Lee said. "What she needed was more experience with court smarts, presence, and leadership. I had that in spades from my previous few years as captain/setter, so I remained the captain and on the court in whatever capacity I could be. I played mostly defensive specialist which allowed me to lend my ball control, defensive skills, and leadership to the court as well as serve as an off-setter if needed. I had a short serve that could really destroy an offense, so we didn't want to lose that in the serving lineup."

Temple began the year the season at the Sea Sun Invitational, winning all three matches, but the following week the Owls went 1-2 at UConn's Husky Classic that included back-to-back five-set losses.

Just three days later on Sept. 11, Temple stayed in Philadelphia to play Big 5 rival Villanova and lost its third five-set match in seven days. Yun posted a double-double for the Owls with a team-high 19 kills and 16 digs, while junior Yamit Haba had seven kills and 21 digs. Freshman Stephanie Buynovsky led the team with seven blocks, and Runk had 47 assists and 13 digs.

Two decades later, Runk reflected on that early season loss against Villanova.

"I was still getting my big girl setting shoes on and still getting comfortable," she said. "Bertucci left me in during the entire match and we lost. And I'm pretty sure it was because of me, because I was still in that growing period. I needed some of those experiences of failure and to get better. He needed me to know that he could believe in me. He could have pulled me out and put Solana in, but he didn't."

A few days later, the Runk and Owls played their first matches of the season at home in McGonigle Hall as they hosted the Temple Classic against St. Peter's, West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Rutgers. Runk led the Owls to a 3-1 weekend record with 107 assists, including 68 versus Rutgers, the fourth-most in a single match school history.

Temple finished its 13-match non-conference schedule with a trip Albuquerque, N.M. to the New Mexico Volleyball Tournament. The Owls went 2-1 that weekend with wins over Auburn and Southern Methodist.

On Sept. 24, Temple began A10 conference play where they ran off 15 straight wins, the second-longest win streak in the program's history.

The last weekend of the regular season, the Owls traveled to Ohio to face their stiffest competition of the conference against Xavier and Dayton. From 1997, the start of the Owls string of three-straight A10 titles, until 2002, Temple had a record of 17-12 versus the two Ohio schools.

Between Temple, Dayton, and Xavier, the Atlantic 10 Championship would seemingly come down to the combination of the three teams.

Alison Runk -2002 A10 Setter of the Year

"Those were the tough weekends, because those schools were closer distance wise," Runk reflected. "We got to play each team home and away, and back then you would have two teams that would travel together. LaSalle was our travel partner, so when Xavier and Dayton would play the Philly schools, they could focus on us because LaSalle was the weakest in the program in our conference."

Temple looked to remain perfect through the conference regular season, but on Nov. 15, Temple traveled to Xavier and played another hard-fought five-set match. As a result, the Musketeers gave the Owls their first loss in a month and half. The Cherry and White lost, 2-3 (29-31, 30-20, 30-26, 23-30, 11-15), but had five players record double-digit digs, including Runk, Yamit Haba, Yun, Margaret Majewska, and Charity Hill. Notably in the loss, Runk, Haba, and Yun capped off the match, recording double-doubles. Runk dished out 64 assists and 10 digs, Haba had 17 kills and 14 digs, and Yun had a match-high 26 kills and 14 digs.

The next day in Dayton, Ohio, the Owls would not be denied in the final match of the regular season. Temple finished the conference's regular season 12-1, defeating the Flyers in straight set (30-23, 30-25, 30-26). Runk led the Owls with 38 assists, dishing out 16 kills to Yun and 11 to Shu. On the defensive side, Haba recorded a team-high 13 digs, and Yun and Hill added 11 digs apiece.

Xavier and the Owls were slated to meet in the first round of the A10 tournament, and for the third time in 2002. From 1997-01, Xavier led the all-time record in A10 tournament play with two wins compared the Owls' one.

Temple looked to extract a bit of revenge for the loss just a weekend earlier, and just like in the previous matches, the two teams went at it and gave their best effort. This time Temple came out ahead, winning 3-1 (30-25, 30-25, 29-31, 30-25). Temple was led by Haba with 19 kills and 12 digs and Yun with 17 kills and 15 digs. Outside hitter Liu Shu also posted impressive numbers with 16 kills, five digs and four blocks and Runk's 60 assists.

"Those teams had some tall players," Haba said. "They were stronger, but not as fast or good with ball control. They were different than other teams in the A10."

Temple could not relax as it faced George Washington for the A10 Championship the next day. On their mind was the loss to Xavier in the 2001 finals and an NCAA Regional appearance. The 2002 Owls would not let that happen as they took down the Colonials, 3-1, for their first A10 tournament championship since 1999. Yun led the Cherry and White with 23 kills and 25 digs, Haba had 18 kills and 17 digs, Liu Shu tallied a triple-double with 12 kills, 16 digs, and 10 assists, while Runk posted 59 assists.

While waiting to find out where they headed for the upcoming NCAA Regionals, coach Bertucci's team played a couple of warm up matches during Thanksgiving weekend versus Manhattan University and American University. The Owls took care of business, defeating Manhattan 3-1 and American 3-0.

On Dec. 1, 2002, the Owls were selected to play Manhattan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Penn State University, a team they just faced days earlier.

"This was the best first round draw we have ever had," said Bertucci. "This was critical, especially with how well we had been playing."

Under the direction of Coach Bertucci, the Cherry and White made three previous trips (1997-99) to an NCAA Regional, losing each time.

Just like the earlier match against Manhattan, the Owls needed four sets to beat the Jaspers. Temple had four players in double digit scoring, including Yun with 24 kills and seven digs and Haba with 13 kills and 17 digs. Shu had a career night with 19 kills and eight digs, while Hill contributed 11 kills and three digs. Runk had 67 assists and three service aces.

Temple moved onto to play the top-regional seed and nationally-ranked, No. 12 Penn State. At one point in Runk's life, her dream was to be on the same court as the Nittany Lions. But at this point of her career, she was happy to be on the opposite side of the net to play.

"My mentality was, I'm out to show Penn State who we were," Runk said. "I'm going play the best game of my entire life. I'm going to be locked in, dialed in. I'm going to make every jump serve. I was so ready for that game. I was so pumped because I started playing volleyball at 11 and I had gone to a ton of Penn State matches at Rec Hall. I've been there, done that, but now this is my dream, this is my time."

Temple featured a balanced attack in the four-set (30-24, 30-26, 26-30, 30-23) victory. The Owls had controlled majority of the match, not allowing the home team fans to get off their hands. The Cherry and White featured four players with double-digit scoring figures. Shu had a team-high 20 kills and added five digs. Yun finished with 16 kills and 15 digs, while Haba had 12 kills and a match-high 23 digs. Majewska contributed 10 kills and nine digs, while Hill added nine kills and two digs. Runk finished the match with 60 assists.

"We were the underdogs, so we just played our hearts out and we had nothing to lose," Lee said. "It was a fun season at that point and we just drank it all in."

During the match, the Cherry and White held the taller Penn State team to a .131 percentage, forcing them into 32 hitting errors. The Owls' defense kept the Lions offense guessing all night, digging 75 balls of the 168 attempts. Temple's front line had 12 blocks in the match, but it was the undersized, 5-11, middle blocker Hill that surprised Penn State the most with a team-leading seven blocks.

"We really had a really good defense that game, and I think in sports it's a lot about momentum and the mental game, especially for girls," said Haba. "I felt like they were better than us on paper. But we had some seriously good players and when everything clicked for us. When everybody was on the same page, and just like in this match, we could give anyone a really good fight. We caught them by surprise and everything for us just worked in the match, we just took advantage."

The "Cinderella season" ended just five days later in Gainesville with a loss to No. 5 Florida in straight-sets, 15-30, 27-30, 14-30.

Bob Bertucci - 2002 A10 Coach of the Year

When the Atlantic 10 announced its year-ending award winners following the 2002 volleyball season, Temple was well represented. Yun was named the conference Player of the Year, Runk was named Setter of the Year and Bertucci was selected as Coach of the Year. Joining Yun and Runk on the All-Conference first team was Haba.

Yun dominated the opposition in helping lead Temple to a 13-1 conference record, the regular season Atlantic 10 title and the top seed Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship. The Shanghai, China native was the conference leader with a 4.60 kills per game average and was third in digs with a 3.58 average. In Atlantic 10 play, Yun averaged 4.98 kills and 3.53 digs per game. Yun was a four-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Week in 2002 and was the first Owl to be selected as the conference Player of the Year since Alma Kovaci in 1999.

Runk set things up for Yun's heavy hitting. The Lititz, Pa. native was second in the conference with an 12.14 assists per game average. In Atlantic 10 action, Runk raised her average to 12.35 assists per game. She was tied for third on the Owls in service aces with 35 and tied for third on the team in blocks with 58.

Bertucci earned his third Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honor. He guided the Owls to a 29-7 overall mark including a 13-1 conference record. Bertucci previously earned Coach of the Year honors in 1997 and 1999.

By the numbers, TU finished 2002 with a 3-5 record in five-set matches, 12-1 in four-set matches, and 13-1 in three-set matches.

As the years pass, this team's importance will never be forgotten. This Temple volleyball team will be remembered as the first team in the program to win an NCAA tournament match and the advance to the round of 16. Temple's 2002 team was and still is the only A10 school to ever to advance to the round of 16. There are only two occasions in Temple's volleyball history where a team had a trio of in its 1,000 career kills club. This team is one of those instances. Haba (2000-03) is ninth all-time in school history with 1,396 kills. Yun (2001-03) added 1,256 kills as an Owl in her three seasons, and is currently number 11 all-time. Zhen Jia Liu (2002-05) was just freshman on this 2002 team, but would go onto finish with 1,041 career kills, currently number 20 all-time.

This series takes a look at the various seasons in Temple athletics history. Check later in the week for the 1982 Owls lacrosse team, the 1992 fencing team, and the 1972 baseball team.

Temple University Athletics

Championship Celebration Series: The 2002 Temple Volleyball Team

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