Volleyball Hosts SMU on Wednesday to Close Out 2023 Season

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple Owls' volleyball team (17-13, 7-11 AAC) take on the Southern Methodist Mustangs (24-6, 17-1 AAC) on Wednesday in McGonigle Hall to close out the 2023 volleyball season. The inter-divisional match will start at 11:30 a.m. ET and will be available on ESPN+.

LAST TIME OUT
The Owls went 0-2 last week in conference play versus AAC East opponent Memphis. On Friday, Temple was swept by the Tigers, 21-25, 13-25, 19-25. Memphis held the Cherry and White to a .075 hitting percentage. Junior Jaaliyah Evans became the first Owls player this season other than Taylor Davenport, Avery Luoma, or Olivia Vance to lead the in kills. In the match, Evans had nine kills. The very next day, Evans had nine more kills in the 25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 20-25, 14-16 loss Memphis, but it was Davenport who led the team offensively with a career-high 28 kills, while setters Patrycja Zielinska and Lexi Yoza, along with right side hitter Avery Luoma earned double-doubles.

1000 CAREER KILLS
Following senior Taylor Davenport reaching 1,000 career kills three weeks ago at North Texas, Olivia Vance became the second player this season to reach 1,000 for her career. Two weekends ago versus UAB (Nov. 11) Vance, had nine kills 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 244 putaways.

MAKE IT A TRIPLE
In Saturday's five set loss to Memphis, Patrycja Zielinska, Lexi Yoza, and Avery Luoma tallied double-doubles. The junior Zielinska turned in her second of the season with 32 assists and 15 digs. Yoza earned her fifth of the season with 20 assists and 11 digs while Luoma turned in her team leading sixth double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs.

DE-FENCE
Through 30 matches this season, Temple is 75th (10th in AAC) in the country in opponent hitting percentage .193 and 62nd (5th in AAC) with 2.39 blocks per set.

Junior Chelci Banks leads the Cherry and White with .97 blocks per set. In conference action, the Marietta, Ga. native is third with 81 blocks and eighth with 1.09 blocks per set.

MS. CONSISTENT
This past Saturday (Oct.18), the Columbia, S.C. native earned a career-high 28 kills in a five-set loss to Memphis. Two weeks ago, Davenport was named to the AAC Honor Roll after hitting .371 with 35 kills in a pair of matches versus UAB. On the Friday, Nov. 10 versus UAB, Davenport added 21 kills. On Oct. 27 versus North Texas, Davenport became the 22nd player in program history to reach a 1,000 career kills. Of the 30 matches this season, Davenport has been the sole kills leader in 17 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 then-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 final week of play, Davenport is averaging 4.20 points per set and 3.54 kills per set.

SETTING SITUATION
Since Sept. 8, Lexi Yoza and Ava Blaszciek have seen significant playing time of the three Temple setters. Thus far this season, Blascziek has tallied 350 assists to date, while Yoza leads the team with 387.

On Nov. 18 versus Memphis, freshman setter Lexi Yoza recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 20 assists and 11 digs. Earlier this season at the Charlotte 49ers, Yoza earned a pair of doubles, helping TU to a pair of victories. On Oct. 20, she added a team-best 25 assists and 12 digs, while the next day she added 28 assists and a career-high 20 digs, both in Owls' victories. On Nov. 10, Yoza added 28 assists for the second time this year, just one shy of her career-high of 29 against UTSA. This season the Scottsdale, Ariz. native has put together five 20-plus assist matches and four double-digit digs matches.

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.

Junior setter Patrycja Zielinska has also seen playing time this season tallying 336 assists with 12 service aces in 67 sets played. In her last match versus Memphis on Nov. 18, Zielinska dished out 32 assists, the second most of the season for the Polish setter. In the second match of 2023, Zielinska dished out 35 assists in a win versus LIU.

SCOUTING SMU
The Mustangs won their 14th straight match and earned their eighth consecutive sweep and 17th of the season on Monday night at home against the Pepperdine Waves. Jamison Wheeler led the Mustangs 14 kills. Reigning AAC Offensive Player of the Week, Naya Shime turned in 11 kills, four digs, a block, and an ace and reigning Defensive Player of the Week Emma Clothier tallied eight kills on .375 hitting, three blocks and a pair of digs.

Against North Texas, Shime tallied her third double-double of the season with 13 kills on .611 hitting and 11 digs, while added two aces, a block, and an assist. Shime finished with 10 kills, eight digs, an ace, and an assist in Friday's victory. Clothier added five blocks, marking the 10th time she's turned in five-plus blocks this season. She passed out two assists and notched a pair of digs. Clothier finished with seven kills, two blocks, and a dig on Saturday.

TEMPLE VS. SMU
Starting their series back in 2002, SMU and Temple have played 16 times since the inception of the American Athletic Conference in 2013. The Mustangs lead the all-time series 10-7, including winning the last six matches.

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 Hosts SMU on Wednesday to Close Out 2023 Season

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Chelci Banks

Taylor Davenport

Jaaliyah Evans

Avery Luoma

Lexi Yoza

Patrycja Zielinska

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