Temple Volleyball keeps undefeated conference record with win over Memphis

The Owls won their third straight American Athletic Conference match on Friday night against the Memphis Tigers by a score of 3-0. Temple defeated Central Florida and South Florida last weekend by identical 3-0 scores and has not dropped a set so far in conference play.

It was a very efficient performance from the Owls against Memphis. Temple hit .410, .305, and .375 in each set respectively and committed a total of just 10 errors in the entire match. Junior middle blocker Kirsten Overton led the way for the Owls offensively with 13 kills on 18 attempts for an astonishing .722 hitting percentage.

Following the victory, coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam left feeling pleased with his team feeling it was a solid all-around performance.

“I think offensively we did a good job,” Ganesharatnam said. “We need to make sure we put the pressure on different people and have them perform at a high level so we can be successful.”

In addition to Overton, junior outside hitter Tyler Davis had 13 kills. Junior outside hitter Caroline Grattan was the third Owl that had double digits in kills. Additionally, Temple limited Memphis to just 11, 10, and 15 kills respectively and played the role of front runner the whole way.

Davis noticed the team had a very clean effort in the win over Memphis in both aspects of the game.

“I think that both offensively and defensively we were consistent and it showed,” Davis said.

With the Owls at 3-0 in the conference, a date with Cincinnati now awaits on Sunday afternoon in an attempt to stay perfect in American play. But the team is doing its best to remain complacent and stay focused on the next match rather than be caught up in making statements early in the conference part of the schedule.

“I think that we’ve talked about it since my freshman year that nothing’s going to be handed to us,” Davis said. “No one really hands their respect to us.”

While Ganesharatnam was happy with the performance, he’s looking to make sure his team stays focused.

“You also have to keep in mind that it’s not going to keep going on like this,” Ganesharatnam said. “This conference is very competitive. Cincinnati is a very talented team so we have our work cut out for us.”

The Owls finished third in the American Athletic Conference in 2014 and with the team off to a hot start in 2015, their goals certainly aren’t getting any smaller.