Volleyball at Home This Weekend To Take on Tulane and Houston

PHILADELPHIA – Temple volleyball returns to the McGonigle Hall for this first time in a month as it starts a four-match homestand, starting with a pair of matches this weekend versus Tulane and Houston. The Owls will face the Green Wave on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. ET and then the Cougars on Sunday at noon. Both matches will be available on ESPN+.

QUICK HITS

Coming into this weekend, the Owls are 6-7 overall and 0-2 in AAC action. Last weekend, the Owls fell to Wichita State and Tulsa in a pair of sweeps. On Friday, the Cherry and White fell 13-25, 21-25, 15-25 to the Shockers and fell to Tulsa on Sunday 17-25, 14-25, 13-25.
Tulane played its two AAC matches last week, early, as it fell to Houston and Cincinnati. Overall, this season the Green Wave is 5-8 and 0-2 in conference play. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, the Green Wave took the Cougars to the limit, but ultimately falling in five sets, 25-22, 9-25, 26-24, 19-25, 9-15. Tulane hosted the Bearcats on Friday, Sept. 25 and lost 26-28, 25-16, 24-26, 21-25.
Houston enters the weekend tied for first place in the AAC with UCF, Tulsa, and UCF, all with 2-0 conference records. Houston played once last weekend as it knocked of Cincinnati on Sept. 25 in four sets, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 25-17, on their way to an 11-2 overall record.

OWL ABOUT TEMPLE IN 2022

Temple comes into the weekend 6-7 overall and 0-2 in AAC play. The Owls played their first two matches in conference last weekend, losing in sweeps against Wichita State and Tulsa. On Friday at Wichita State, the Owls dropped their first match of the weekend as Jelena Prolic led the Owls with 10 kills and seven digs. Two days later, the junior transfer led the Owls with 12 digs in the loss to Tulsa.
Sophomore Taylor Davenport continues to be one conference's offensive leaders. On Sept. 25 versus Tulsa, the Cherry and White outside hitter led the Owls with 10 kills.So far this season, Davenport has averaged 3.88 k/s, good for third in the conference. She's also tied for third in the conference with 202 total kills.

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 seven of the 13 matches. Prolic is second on the team with 112 kills and had a career-high 19 putaways versus Delaware on Aug. 26. 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. Currently the Minneapolis, Minn., native is fourth on the team with 73 kills and second with 36 blocks.

SETTING SITUATION

Setter Patrycja Zielinska has led the Temple offense this season to a 6-7 overall record. A season ago, Zielinska recorded 827 assists in 31 matches. This season, the sophomore is seventh in the AAC, averaging 8.48 digs/set.In 2022, the Francizkow, Poland native has dished out 390 assists already.On two occasions this season, Zielinska has topped the 50-plus assists mark twice in a match. On Sept. 3 versus St. Francis (Brooklyn), Zielinska guided the Owls to a five-set win with a career-high 57 assists.

CHASING 1000-CAREER DIGS

Going into 2022, Falanika Danielson had 797 career digs after a career-high 471 in 2021.The 2020 AAC Libero of the Year is looking for her 1000th-career dig and is currently at 968. Danielson has recorded 170 digs already in 2022 while averaging 3.27 digs/set.The Ewa Beach, Hawaii native, set a season-high in digs versus Cornell on Sept. 10 as she recorded a season-high 23, marking the 16th time in her career Danielson achieved the 20-plus assists mark.

DEFENDING THE BACK ROW

Through 13 season matches, freshman defensive specialist Nalani McBride recorded 79 digs, with a career-high 11, twice, against St. Francis and Cornell.Fellow defensive specialist Nikki Shimao also played a big part in the Owls' success as she set a career-high 15 digs against UAlbany, totaling 99 so far this season.

MIDDLE MANAGEMENT

Through 13 matches into her career, middle blocker Samantha Jo Mikosky has been a steady force, not just as a middle blocker, but also at the service line.So far in the early season, Mikosky has blocked 58 attacks, the most in the AAC, and has averaged the third-best 1.14 blocks/set in the conference. On Sept. 10 versus Colgate, the freshman tallied the third-best kills (11) total in school history. From the service line, the Bethlehem, Pa. native has connected with a team-best 11 service aces, including a career-high three in the five-set win versus Cornell on Sept. 10.

FRONT LINE DEFENSE

The Owls are tied for fifth in the AAC conference with 110 total team blocks and ranking fifth with 2.12 blocks/set. So far in 2022, the Owls have totaled 10 or more blocks in four separate matches.

FIVE-SET PERSEVERANCE

The Owls have an overall record of 6-7, and in those 13 matches, they have played four five-set matches with a perfect 4-0 record. On Sept. 16, the Owls recorded their latest five-set win as they defeated Providence, 24-26, 25-17, 14-25, 25-22, 15-11.

SCOUTING TULANE

The Green Wave is second with 1.55 service aces per set in the AAC, fourth in the AAC in hitting percentage .222, and fourth, digging 14.37 digs per set. Three players, including Mackenzie Martin (128), Amarachi Osuji (124), and Melissa Kourbasi (124) have earned 100-plus kills this season. Kayla Kaiser is among the leaders behind the service line. Kaiser is tied for third with 51 aces, while .35 aces/set is tied for sixth.

TEMPLE VS. TULANE

The Owls and the Green Wave first met in 2014 and have played 13 times in their school's history with Temple leading the all-time series 7-6. Tulane has won the last four meetings, including a five-set win a season ago in New Orleans, defeating the Owls 16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 7-15. 2021. Lexie Douglass outdueled Temple's Miray Bolukbasi 19-kill, 11-dig performance, with a match-high 27 kills in the win.

SCOUTING HOUSTON

The Cougars are in the top five of multiple team statistical categories including, hitting percentage (2nd), opponent hitting percentage (5th), assists (3rd), kills (3rd), service aces (3rd), and digs (3rd). Individually, Isabel Theut is fourth in the conference with .338 hitting percentage to along with her sixth-place ranking of 3.59 kills/set. Abbie Jackson follows, right behind with 3.57 kills/set. Jackson has also been the conference's best behind the service line with 21 aces and a .41 aces/set. Defensively, libero Kate Georgiades is the second in the AAC with 265 digs and averages 5.20 digs/set.

TEMPLE VS. HOUSTON

Temple leads the all-time matchup with a 9-6 record, but the Cougars won three of the last four matches. In 2021, Houston won both season matchups by way of the sweep. Abbie Jackson led the Cougars in both matches with 15 kills apiece.

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