Volleyball To Close Out Road Schedule at Memphis

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple Owls volleyball team be out on the road for the final time this season as it travels to Memphis to take on the Tigers. The Owls head into the weekend with a 17-11 overall record and 7-9 American Athletic Conference, holding down fourth place in the East Division. Meanwhile the Tigers follow behind Temple in fifth place of the East Division with 8-20 overall record and 4-12 in AAC play. The action will get started on Friday at 7 p.m. ET and then 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. Notably, just Saturday's match will be the only match streamed (ESPN+) of the two contests.

LAST TIME OUT
The Owls went 2-0 last week in conference play versus AAC East opponent UAB. On Friday, after dropping the first set of the match and winning the next two, UAB forced a set five where the Owls won went on to win, 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 23-25, 15-13. Less than 24 hours later, the Cherry and White, swept the Blazers, 25-20, 25-19, 25-12. With the pair of wins against UAB, the Owls guaranteed themselves a winning record for 2023 and the best record since 2017 when they finished 20-11 overall and 15-5 overall.

1000 CAREER KILLS
Following senior Taylor Davenport reaching 1,000 career kills two weeks ago at North Texas, Olivia Vance became the second player this season to reach 1,000 for her career. Last weekend versus UAB (Oct. 10) Vance, had nine in the sweep against the Blazers. The Saline, Mich. native spent the first four years of her career at Toledo, accumulating 774 kills. Thus far in 2023, Vance has tallied 228 putaways.

TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE
In first match last weekend versus the UAB, the freshmen combination of Lexi Yoza and Ava Blaszciek combined for 53 assists in the five-set win. Yoza fell short of her career-high of 29 assists as she led Temple with 28. Blaszciek tied her career-high with 25.

DE-FENCE
Through 28 matches this season, Temple is 68th (8th in AAC) in the country in opponent hitting percentage .180 and 70th (5th in AAC) with 2.36 blocks per set.

Junior Chelci Banks leads the Cherry and White with .97 blocks per set. In conference action, the Marietta, Ga. native is ninth with 71 blocks and fourth with 1.09 blocks per set.

MS. CONSISTENT
Senior outside hitter Taylor Davenport became the 22nd player in school history break into the 1000-kill club. Davenport has been a consistent offensive threat for the Temple attack in 2023. On Oct. 27 versus North Texas, Davenport led the Owls with 15 kills on her away to her way to that illustrious mark. Recently on Nov. 10 versus UAB, Davenport added 21 kills, her fourth 20-plus kill match of the season, and the 12th of her career. Of the 28 matches this season, Davenport has been the sole kills leader in 16 of those matches, including a string of seven matches to begin the season. In each of those seven matches, Davenport recorded 10 or more kills including a season-high 24 versus Dartmouth on Sept. 1. Additionally in the match versus the Big Green, the Columbia, S.C. native added earned her second career double-double as she added a career-high 10 digs. Currently this season, Davenport is fourth in the AAC behind in points per set and fifth in kills per set. Going into the 14th week of play, Davenport is averaging 4.17 points per set and 3.51 kills per set.

TRANSFER EXPERIENCE
On Oct. 23, graduate transfer Avery Luoma earned her first-career AAC Defensive Player of the Week. In three matches versus Rider (Oct. 18) and Charlotte (2) (Oct. 20-21), Luoma averaged 4.11 digs per set and totaled 13 blocks. In the two matches against Charlotte, Luoma tallied her fifth and sixth double-doubles of the season. Against the 49ers on Friday night, the Phoenix, Ariz. native tallied a season-high 21 digs and a match-high six blocks. Just one day later in the series finale, graduate transfer did it again with 16 digs, while adding four more blocks.

Luoma was vital on the offensive side during that week, totaling 35 kills and six service aces. Temple's right-side hitter averaged 2.92 kills per set but raised her game in the AAC weekend series versus Charlotte, averaging 3.11 kills per set. Luoma added a team-high 12 kills versus the 49ers on Friday but accumulated a season-high 17 kills on Saturday.

So far in 2023, Luoma is second on the team with 241 kills, including 10 matches of where she's reached double-digit kills. Temple's right-side hitter leads the team with five double-doubles in 2023.

On the defensive side, Luoma is second on the team with 233 digs. The Phoenix, Ariz. native has accumulated 11 matches with double-digit digs, including a stretch of five of six matches. Notably, on Oct. 21 versus in the 3-1 victory over Charlotte, Luoma reached a season-high with 21 digs. The next day on the Oct. 21, Luoma capped off her fifth double-double this season against Niners with a season-high 17 kills and 16 digs. On Nov. 11 versus UAB, Luoma added her latest 10-plus digs match with 11 in the five-set win against to the Blazers.

SETTING SITUATION
Temple freshmen setters Lexi Yoza and Ava Blaszciek have seen significant playing time this season. Blascziek has tallied 342 assists to date, while Yoza leads the team with 356.

Blascziek in the five-set win versus UAB on Nov. 10 earned her sixth match of 20 or more assists of the season as she recorded 25. Earlier this season in back-to-back matches versus Princeton and Saint Francis, the Minnesota native had 25 and 24 assists, respectively. Additionally versus Princeton, the rookie setter earned her first double-double of her career with the with a career-high 25 assists and added 10 digs and second effort on UTSA with 22 assists and 14 digs.

Fellow freshman setter Lexi Yoza had an all-around weekend on Oct. 20 and 21 against the Charlotte 49ers. In those matches, Yoza added her third and fourth double-doubles of the season. On Oct. 20 added a team-best 25 assists and 12 digs, while the next days she added 28 assists and a career-high 20 digs, both in Owls' victories. This season the Scottsdale, Ariz. native has put together five 20-plus assist matches and four double-digit digs matches. On Nov.. 10, Yoza added 28 assists for the second time this year, just one shy of her career-high of 29 against UTSA.

Junior setter Patrycja Zielinska has also seen playing time this season tallying 302 assists with 11 service aces in 61 sets played.

ALL ACES
As a team, Temple is third in the AAC with 1.57 aces per set and 166 total aces. As a team the Owls set their season-high for aces in a match with 15 against the UAB Blazers on Nov. 10. Individually, Taylor Davenport is the leader of the Cherry and White season, averaging .27 service aces per set and 29 total.

Of her 29 service aces this season, the Columbia, S.C. native has led the Owls in nine of the 24 matches. In those nine matches, Temple has earned a 7-2 record.

FIVE-SET PRESSURE
The Owls played their ninth five-set match of the season on Nov. 10, defeating the UAB Blazers, to the South Florida Bulls, 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 23-25, 15-13, improving to 6-3 on the season.

A season ago, the Cherry and White played 11 five-set thrillers. The Cherry and White earned a conference-best seven wins, going 7-4. It started the season perfectly in five-setters (5-0).

SCOUTING MEMPHIS
Memphis comes into this weekend's matches losing its last seven. Brylee Busse is tied for second in the American with .41 aces per set and is tied for third in the conference with 79 total. Offensively, Ciara Bednarek and Tabytha Toelke led the Tigers' team with 200-plus kill seasons. Bednarek lead Memphis with 214 kills, while Toelke follows a close second with 206. Defensively, Bednarek also leads the Memphis squad with 87 blocks while libero Abigail Schlueter is the leader with 366 digs.

TEMPLE VS. MEMPHIS
In the 10 seasons of playing in the AAC, Temple and Memphis have squared off 17 times. The Owls hold an 11-6 all-time advantage, while Memphis has won three of the last four, but Cherry and White won the last match in 2022 in four sets at Memphis. In the 3-1 win, Jelena Prolic led the match with a double-double. The Serbia native had a match-high 18 kills and 11 digs.

UP NEXT
The Owls will close out their regular season the day before Thanksgiving against the SMU Mustangs at 11:30 am ET on Nov. 22 in McGonigle Hall.

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 Close Out Road Schedule at Memphis

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Chelci Banks

Taylor Davenport

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Jelena Prolic

Lexi Yoza

Patrycja Zielinska

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