TEMPLE COMES BACK FROM TWO SETS TO ZERO TO BEAT USF

Written By: Adrian Maghacot

Photo Courtesy of: @Temple_VB

The Owls were at home in McGonigle Hall to face off against the 6-12 USF Bulls. Temple is 0-6 against AAC opponents and sought to earn their first win tonight against a team that is 0-7 also against AAC opponents as well as having a seven-match losing streak.

USF started the first set off strong with four consecutive points after some kills and two bad sets from Owl’s player, Magdalena Rogalska. Temple had a four-point streak of their own to keep the Bulls’ lead very narrow. Halfway towards the first set, the Bulls widened the gap at one point having an 18-12 lead. After a timeout, Owls middle blocker Taylor Davenport scored a kill and attempted to come back from five-point margin, but after multiple bad sets by the Owls and kills by the Bulls, USF took the first set with a 25-21 win.

The second set started with a service ace from USF player, Marta Cvitkovic. The game was kept very close until the Bulls had a 5-0 run after some kills and service aces. Temple then had a 4-0 run after the USF made many mistakes to attack. Later in the second set, USF had another five consecutive point run after many service aces by Cvitkovic and errors from the Owls. Temple had a six-point run after many Bulls errors to cut the USF lead to two. USF closed the second set with a 25-22 victory.

The third set is where the Owls start to orchestrate their comeback starting off with a four-point run with three kills by Owl’s outside hitter Gem Grimshaw as well as a Bulls error. Both teams traded in kills with Temple doing it two at a time and giving their lead gap to eight late in the third set. USF then had a four-point run multiple kills from Cvitkovic and an attack error from the Owls. The Bulls tried to overtake the Owls at one point being a two-point margin game, but Temple takes the third game with a score of 25-22 after an attack error by attack error from USF.

The fourth set was very close up until halfway through the set as the Bulls committed too many attack errors and widened the Owls to a seven-point lead. After two points by USF, they also committed more attack errors to a 21-13 lead for Temple. The Owls took advantage of these errors to close the game with a dominating 25-15 win to grab that fourth set.

The fifth and final game had Temple dominating the first half with a 10-4 lead after many attack errors from USF. The Owls had a chance to put the game away early with a match point in a 14-8 lead, but the Bulls came back to keep the margin close as it was 13-14 after many kills. Grimshaw had the final kill and officially ended the game with a 15-13 win for the Owls and capturing the winning set.

Some individual highlights for the Owls are that Gem Grimshaw had a team-high of 18 kills. Patrycja Zielinska also had a team-high of 29 assists, and Falanjka Danielson had a team-high of 14 digs. 

The Owls now have their first win in AAC play and will face the UCF Knights at McGonigle Hall on Sunday, October 17.