Volleyball To Open Season with Four Matches in Three Days in McGonigle Hall

PHILADELPHIA - The Owls open the regular season this weekend at home with four matches as they host the 2024 Cherry and White Invitational. Starting on Friday, the Owls will play a pair of matches, starting with Rider at noon, followed by Radford at 3:30 p.m. On Saturday, Temple returns to McGonigle Hall hardwood to close out the invitational versus Farleigh Dickinson at 1 p.m. Then in a rematch from 2023, No. 7 Penn State returns to North Broad to take on the Owls. First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. All matches will be shown on ESPN+.

SCOUTING TEMPLE
On Monday, outside hitter Taylor Davenport became the first Temple volleyball player since the 2021 season to represent the Owls on the American Athletic Conference Preseason All-Conference Team. The 2024, 12-player list was voted on by the league's coaches and released on Monday. Last season, Davenport played in all 31 games, becoming the 22nd player in school history to 1,000 career kills (ended the year with 1,117). The Columbia, S.C. native led the team and was fifth in the conference with 411 kills and 3.51 kills/set. The graduate student recorded 15 or more kills on 12 occasions, including a career-28 kills. On the defensive side, Junior Chelci Banks led the Owls individually with 114 total blocks, including ranking fourth in conference play with 82 total blocks and eighth with 1.08 blocks/set.

SCOUTING RADFORD
First year head coach Chris Hertel will look toward a foursome of players to ignite his offense in 2024. Olivia Flanagan (140), Sophie Paspal (136), Kennedy Robinson (127), and Sierra Moore (127) were the only Highlander players in 2023 with over 100 kills. The foursome combined for 530 of the 887 team kills.

ALL-TIME VS. RADFORD
Temple leads the all-time series with the Highlanders, 4-0, with the last match in the series taking place in 2019.

SCOUTING FARLEIGH DICKINSON
Coming off a 2023 season where they made it to the NEC Championship match, the Knights are looking to continue their strong play that saw them go 11-3 in the Northeast Conference, Georgia Vaschetti and Kylie Nott return as the leaders in the FDU offense. A season ago, Vaschetti earned 227 kills, while Nott added 204, ranking them second and third, respectively.

ALL-TIME VS. FARLEIGH DICKINSON
The lone match between the two schools took place in 1985 with the Owls coming out on top.

SCOUTING RIDER
Head coach Jeff Rotondo's Rider volleyball team earned 98 points in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll and is slated to finish fourth in 2024. The Broncs finished a strong 10-8 in MAAC play in 2023. Junior Kiannisha Santiago and sophomore Paige Giehtbrock return as leaders of the Rider offense. A season ago, Santiago led the team with 230 kills, while Giehtbrock was second on the team with 209.

ALL-TIME VS. RIDER
Temple has held the Broncs winless in 11 all-time meetings, including last years sweep in McGonigle Hall. This weekend will be the first of two matches this season between the two squads.

SCOUTING PENN STATE
Penn State's Jess Mruzik was a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team. Last year Mruzik numbers was second in the conference with kills/set (4.40), second in points/set (4.94), third in kills (519), and third in points (583.5). She broke the program record for attacks during the 25-point scoring era with 1,360 while adding 270 digs, 61 blocks, and 24 aces.

ALL-TIME VS. PENN STATE
Penn State leads the all-time series by the margin of 15-1. Temple's lone win came in 2002 at Penn State during the NCAA Regionals.

UP NEXT
Temple will visit South Carolina on Friday and Sunday as it plays in the South Carolina Gamecock Invitational. The Owls will take on the host South Carolina and then North Carolina. On Sunday, the Owls will travel to Clinton, S.C. to play Presbyterian.

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Temple University Athletics

Volleyball To Open Season with Four Matches in Three Days in McGonigle Hall

Players Mentioned

Chelci Banks

Taylor Davenport

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