Volleyball Rolls to 4-0 with Sweep of Delaware State

Tuesday, August 29

Philadelphia, Pa.

6:00 PM

Temple University

4-0,0-0AAC

Delaware State

2-2,0-0MEAC

Delaware St.

Temple

Volleyball Rolls to 4-0 with Sweep of Delaware State

8.29.23 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple Owls' volleyball team moved to 4-0 to start the season with Tuesday's victory against the Delaware State University. Temple recorded their fourth consecutive sweep against the Hornets, 25-11, 25-22, 25-21.

The team's fourth consecutive win by sweep gives them the second most wins by sweeps to start a season since the 1976 season and the third most wins overall to start a season behind 1976 and 2014.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Reigning AAC Offensive Player of the Week Taylor Davenport and graduate transfer Avery Luoma led the Owls offensively with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
Middle blocker Chelci Banks led the team with a .444 hitting percentage. The junior had six kills in the win, while Luoma followed close behind at .357.
As a team the Owls accumulated seven service aces and 13 team blocks on the night

SET 1 (TU 25, DSU 11)

Luoma was a force in the first set as she totaled six kills on 12 total attacks.
With Luoma hitting .500 in the set, she led Temple to .429 team hitting percentage.
Early on in the set, Temple extended its lead to 8-4 on the serve of libero Nalani McBride. During the run the sophomore served her first of two aces and then Davenport and Luoma added back-to-back kills.
Lexi Yoza served out the set with Jelena Prolic recording two of her three kills on the night. Yoza gave the Cherry and White the victory in the first frame with her first career ace.

SET 2 (TU 26, DSU 22)

The Columbia, S.C. native Davenport led all hitters with seven kills in set two.
Temple got out to a quick 5-1 advantage before the Hornets were able to take their first lead of the match.
Delaware State got their points in clusters off of Temple errors, giving them a slight three-point lead, 12-9.
The momentum swung back to TU's advantage as they got kills by Davenport and Banks to retake the lead at 14-12, but yet again the DSU team made their last run of the set with Gerren Tomlin putting away two balls and an ace from Valeria Oteria.
Kills from Luoma (1) and Davenport (2) allowed the Owls to take a 19-17 and never look back in the set.

SET 3 (TU 25, DSU 21)

Almost like a carbon copy of set two, the Owls got out to a 5-1 advantage but found themselves fighting to get control of the set. Six straight points by the Hornets led to a 7-5 advantage. In the rally, Alondra Maldonado had two of her team-high six kills.
Both teams traded points, but McBride's serve led to nine straight points for Temple. The Owls went up by the score of 18-10 after five Delaware State errors in that span.
Kills by Luoma and Davenport late in the set sealed the Hornets fate.

Temple Leaders
Kills: Taylor Davenport – 12
Assists: Ava Blascziek and Patrycja Zielinska – 10
Blocks: Samantha Jo Mikosky and Chelci Banks – 6
Digs: Nalani McBride – 14
Aces: Nalani McBride and Patrycja Zielinska – 2

Temple returns to action this weekend at the Morgan State/Towson Tournament in the Baltimore area. The Owls will start their weekend on Friday, Sept. 1 at 1 p.m. against Dartmouth. On Saturday, Temple play one of the host's, Towson at 7 p.m. and close out the weekend on Sunday against Morgan State at 1 p.m.

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.