Volleyball on the Road this Weekend at Towson/Morgan State Tournament

PHILADELPHIA - After a 4-0 start, the Owls are right back to the volleyball court for their first road trip of the season during Labor Day Weekend when they travel to the Baltimore area for the Morgan State/Towson Tournament. Temple begins the action against Dartmouth at 1 p.m. on Friday, followed by Towson on Saturday at 7 p.m., and Morgan State at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Go to owlsports.com to find availability for of the three matches.

TUESDAY RECAP
The Owls defeated the Delaware Hornets by a sweep, 25-11, 25-21, 26-24, as they improved to 4-0 on the season. It's third longest win streak to start a season in school history behind 2014 (6), and 1976 (13). In the victory, senior outside hitter, Taylor Davenport led the match with 12 kills, while graduate transfer Avery added 11.

CHERRY AND WHITE HONORS
Taylor Davenport earned 2023 Hilton Philadelphia Penn's Landing Cherry & White Challenge MVP honors, while graduate transfer Avery Luoma and junior Patrycja Zielinska were also selections to the all-tournament team.

NATIONAL ATTENTION
The senior Davenport opened the first weekend with 18 kills against Iona, a double-double versus LIU (20 kills, 10 digs), and 19 kills against Lehigh in the tournament clincher on her way to winning the AAC Conference Offensive Player of Week for Week 1. She became the first Temple player since to win the AAC Offensive Player of the Week since Izabella Rapacz in 2017.

Going into this weekend's slate of matches, the senior is ranked second in the NCAA with 6.08 kills per set and 6.83 points per set, tied for first with 73 kills, and first with 82 total points.

During last weekend, the Columbia, S.C. native won the Hilton Philadelphia Penn's Landing Cherry & White Challenge MVP award, leading Temple to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2019. In each of the three matches, Temple won with sweeps. Davenport started in all three of those matches where she tallied a tournament-best 57 kills, while averaging 6.33 kills per set. She hit .333 on 123 attempts with just 16 errors. No other person on the team had more than 73 attempts.

Taylor looks to replicate her offensive accension from 2022. After making the transition from middle blocker to outside hitter, Davenport ended the season fifth overall in the AAC conference in kills per/set (3.61)kills (451), points (515), and points/set (4.12). She became the first Owl since the 2015 season to reach with at least 400 kills in a season and also marks the fourth highest output in the 25-point scoring format. Davenport recorded double-digit kills in 20 of the team's 31 matches. The Columbia, S.C. native had nine matches in 2022 where she earned at least 20 kills, including a career-high 27 versus St. Francis Brooklyn on Sept. 3.

TRANSFER EXPERIENCE
Luoma was voted to the Cherry & White Challenge All-Tournament Team last weekend as she totaled 23 kills, while averaging 2.56 kills per set. The Phoenix, Ariz. native also added three service aces and three blocks.

Luoma had spent four seasons at the Princeton University where she had totaled 519 career kills. In 2022 with the Tigers, Luoma earned her second straight First Team All-Ivy League nod after appearing in 23 matches where she ranked third in the Ivy League and second on the team in points per set (3.81), and ranked third in the conference and second on the team in kills per set (3.67).

From 2019-2022, Vance tallied 779 kills in her time with the University of Toledo. She helped the Rockets to the 2022 National Invitational Volleyball Championships after a 19-13 season. The Rockets advanced to the second round of the NIVC tournament to play Western Carolina after knocking off Clemson in the first round. The Michigan native played in 110 sets in all 32 matches and was third on the team with 282.5 points, 227 kills, and a .284 hitting percentage. Defensively, Vance was second on the Toledo squad with 88 blocks (65 block assists, 23 solo blocks).

SETTING SITUATION
Last weekend setter Patrycja Zielinska earned Hilton Philadelphia Penn's Landing Cherry & White Challenge All-Tournament Team honors as she tallied 74 assists, while averaging 9.24 assists per set and three service aces.

In the offseason, Temple added two highly touted setters, Lexi Yoza and Ava Blascziek. Both rookie setters saw action in the first weekend with Yoza adding 12 assists and Blascziek with 20. Notably, in Temple's win versus Lehigh on Sunday, Blascziek came off the bench in the second set and dished out 14 assists.

In the offseason, Temple added two highly touted setters, Lexi Yoza and Ava Blascziek. Both rookie setters saw action in the first weekend with Yoza adding 12 assists and Blascziek with 20. Notably, in Temple's win versus Lehigh on Sunday, Blascziek came off the bench in the second set to finish off the 3-0 victory and dished out 14 assists.

SCOUTING DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth opens the season this weeken and loooking to build off 2022 that saw it earn the highest win total (16) since 2011. The Big Green returners Ellie Blain (3.53), Bomi Ogunlari (2.55), Amelia Gibbs (2.42) and Ava Roberts (2.40) accounted for over 80 percent of their points per set scorers from a year ago. Blain and Ogunlari received All-Ivy Second Team recognition and Gibbs was an honorable mention.

TEMPLE VS. DARTMOUTH
This weekend will be the first-ever meeting between the respective programs.

SCOUTING TOWSON
The Black & Gold opened the season splitting two matches against South Carolina last weekend. The Tigers swept the Gamecocks in the first match behind 12 blocks, led by Aayinde Smith's nine total blocks to win the program's first match over an SEC opponent. Towson dropped the next match in four sets, but Irbe Lazda tied a career-high in kills with 17 on a .452 hitting percentage.

TEMPLE VS. TOWSON
This weekend's match marks the eighth time the two schools will have played. Currently, Temple leads the all-time series 4-3 with the last match occurring in 2021. Gem Grimshaw (14) and Kayla Spells (12) recorded double-digit kills for Temple in the 3-1 loss.

SCOUTING VS. MORGAN STATE
The Owls and the Bears have just twice in their school's histories. Temple leads the series 2-0.

TEMPLE VS. MORGAN STATE
In 2020, the squeezed out a five-set with Miray Bolukbasi tallying 18 kills, while Peyton Boyd and Iyada Dincer earned 13 and 10 kills apiece.

UP NEXT
Temple welcomes No. 14 Penn State to the Liacouras Center on Friday, Sept. 8 for a 7 p.m. first serve. Tickets are still are still available on owlstix.com with pricing set for $11 for reserved seating and $ 7 for groups of 20 or more.

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.

Volleyball on the Road this Weekend at Towson/Morgan State Tournament

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Players Mentioned

Ava Blascziek

Peyton Boyd

Taylor Davenport

Avery Luoma

Kayla Spells

Lexi Yoza

Patrycja Zielinska

Temple University Athletics