Volleyball Ready To Take To the Court Against ECU and Charlotte

PHILADELPHIA – With the American Athletic Conference scheduling to contend with this week, the Temple Owls' volleyball team will hit the road for Friday's match in Greenville, N.C. to play East Carolina at 6 p.m., but will turn around two days later to play at home in McGonigle Hall at 1 p.m. against the Charlotte 49ers. Both matches will be available on ESPN+.

SCOUTING TEMPLE

Temple enters this weekend as it went 1-2 last week in three matches, including five-set conference win versus a 12-6 Binghamton Bearcats club. In the pair of conference matches, the Cherry and White fell in straights to UAB and Memphis. The Owls come into the weekend tied for 11th in the conference with Charlotte with a 1-5 record and are 8-11 overall.
Libero Hikialani Kaohelaulii tallied a team-best 40 digs, averaging 3.64 digs per set, over the span of three matches. To begin the week, Kaohelaulii earned a season-high 20 digs on Wednesday against the Binghamton Bearcats in a five-set victory. In the two conference matches Friday and Sunday, the Kallua, Hawaii native tallied 20 digs including eight on Friday at UAB and a match-high 12 versus Memphis on Sunday.
Running a 6-2 offense, sophomore Lexi Yoza totaled 82 assists, averaging 7.42 assists per set. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native started the week against Binghamton with 31 assists and seven assists. In the two conference matches versus UAB and Memphis, Yoza put together 50 assists, averaging 8.50 assists per set. Yoza reached 20-plus assists in both matches with 21 against UAB and and then 31 against Memphis on Sunday, her third-highest total of the year.
Freshman Sydney Jones led the Owls in kills in three matches last week as she came away with 43, averaging 3.91 kills per set. On Wednesday, the freshman earned a season-high 25 kills versus the five-set win versus the Binghamton Bearcats and hit .327. To begin weekend play versus UAB, Jones added her fourth double-double of the season with 12 kills and and a team-high 13 digs.
The Owls' Taylor Davenport was one kill shy of the team-high total in the three matches. The graduate student Davenport connected with 42 kills, averaging 3.82 kills per set. Davenport started the week against the Binghamton Bearcats hitting .286 with 21 kills, her fourth match of 20-plus kills on the season. The veteran had a team-high 21 kills in the two matches in AAC play. Against, Davenport came away with 11 kills versus UAB on Friday and then a team-high 10 versus Memphis on Sunday, marking her fourth-straight match of double-figure kills.
The Columbia, S.C native Davenport continues to lead the AAC this season in four offensive categories, including kills (279), kills per set (4.23), points (322.5), and points per set (4.89).
As a first-year, Jones is putting herself in the top offensive players in the conference. The Havertown, Pa. native is tied for fourth in aces per set with .40, fourth with 3.32 kills per set, 10th with 174 kills, fourth with 3.80 points per set, and eighth with 201.5 total points.
In conference matches, the Owls are ranked second with 2.41 blocks per set with with senior Chelci Banks ranked ninth in the AAC, averaging 1.00 blocks per set and ranks first with eight solo blocks.

SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA

Coming into the weekend in sixth place of the AAC with a 3-3 record, the Pirates are 10-6 overall on the year.
Angeles Alderete and Fran McBride team to lead the ECU offense with over 150 kills each, followed closely by Pate (141). On the defensive side, McBride leads the team in blocks (44) and Uyar leads the digs column with 203.
Last weekend, ECU saw two losses to conference opponents, Tulane and Rice. Friday night saw Tulane edge the ECU after a five-set match. Three Pirates saw double-digit kills, led by McBride's 18. Although they lead in kills, ECU fell short after committing 28 attack errors and 14 service errors. Sunday saw East Carolina swept on the road by Rice. Huff lead the Pirate's offense with 14 kills while also registering 2 blocks on the night.

HISTORY VERSUS ECU

The Owls have the edge over East Carolina with a 9-8 lead in the series. ECU and Temple first faced each other in 2014. Temple's last win over the Pirates came at the end of the 2022 season.

SCOUTING CHARLOTTE

The 49ers come into the weekend tied 12th with Temple in the conference with a 1-5 record and are 4-15 overall. They will face Wichita St. on Friday before their match with the Owls.
Charlotte's offense is led by senior Kristen Birmingham with 226 kills while also helping on defense with 165 digs. Maddie Stuesser and Lauren Nixon have been the main distributors with 303 and 280 assists respectively. Selany Puente and Lara Kretschmer hold down the net with over 60 blocks each.
The weekend saw the 49ers lose both matches against Memphis and UAB. The Tigers held the 49ers to a 3-1 loss on Friday. Birmingham led the match with 13 kills and 13 digs. Stuesser and Nixon helped move the ball with 22 and 19 assists, respectively. Sunday had Charlotte travel to UAB only to be swept by the Blazers. The 49ers could not get their offense started with only 23 kills recorded in the whole match.

HISTORY VERSUS CHARLOTTE

The Cherry and White lead the series against the 49ers, 9-6 since their first meeting in 2005. Temple beat Charlotte in both meetings last season.

UP NEXT

The Owls travel to Rider on Oct. 23 in a midweek bout against the Broncs.

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