The Owls Fall to Cincinnati Despite Davenport’s 24 Kills
Written by: Adrian Maghacot
Photo by: Temple Athletics
Despite a valiant effort and a 2-0 set deficit, the Owls lost to AAC opponent Cincinnati in five sets.
“There’s so much volleyball left to play,” Temple Head Coach Linda Hampton-Keith said. “We’re getting better with every match, so frustrating as it is to not get the outcome you want, we have to keep focused on our process and we’re right there.”
The environment was electric in McGonigle Hall as before the starters were announced, the crowd was cheering for Owls’ libero Falanika Danielson being recognized for achieving 1000 career digs during the East Carolina game.
Cincinnati kicked off its first set and was performing well with a 6-3 lead, but the Owls took back momentum with a 3-0 run mostly in part to two kills and a block assist from outside hitter Taylor Davenport.
That was short-lived however as Cincinnati answered back with a five- and three-point run to extend its lead back to seven.
Despite both teams scoring back and forth the rest of the set and Temple inching closer to come back, Cincinnati outside hitter Carly Glendinning scored a kill to secure the first set with a score of 25-22.
The second set started very similar to the first with Cincinnati dominating with a 12-4 lead, including a 6-0 run, half of which being Temple attacking errors.
The Owls climbed back with a 4-0 run, including two more Davenport kills, to now trailing by four.
Cincinnati answered back with a 4-0 run of its own with kills from Glendinning and opposite hitter Abby Walker.
After the Owls looked like they were staging a large comeback with a 3-0 run, outside hitter and former University of Alabama player, Shaye Eggleston scored a kill. That gave Cincinnati another run plus the second set with a score of 25-17.
Temple started off the third set with a block assist by middle blocker Samantha Jo Mikosky and right side hitter Peyton Boyd, giving them their first lead of the whole game.
The Owls followed that up with three additional points to give them a 4-0 lead to start the set.
After that point, there were seven 3-0 runs in this set with four from Temple and two from Cincinnati.
After Cincinnati was ready to come back, Mikosky spoiled the ending with a kill to give Temple their first set with a score of 25-22, making it Cincinnati lead with two sets to one.
The Owls kicked off the fourth set leading 2-0 due to two Davenport kills, but Cincinnati responded with a 3-0 one to take back the lead.
Later in the set, outside hitter Elissa Alcantara scored a kill that initiated a Cincinnati 4-0 run, but Davenport broke their streak and gave Temple a 4-0 run to stay at a three point lead.
The rest of the set was back and forth, but Davenport ended it with a kill, giving Temple a 25-20 win and tying the match at two sets.
After two and a half hours of action and one set left, both teams were tired and fighting to earn the win.
Cincinnati started the last set with a block assist from middle blocker Kailea Carrier and setter Emme Madden.
Glendinning started Cincinnati’s 3-0 run, but was ended by a kill from middle blocker Chudear Tut.
With Cincinnati edging victory, Walker scored a kill to give them the final set with a score of 15-8 and the win.
Looking deeper into the statistics, Davenport led the Owls in kills with 24 and Danielson led in digs with 18.
“She [Davenport] wants to be really good,” Hampton-Keith said. “Her leadership is driven by her example of just wanting to be a great athlete and putting in the work to be a great athlete.”
Score by set: (22-25), (17-25), (25-22), (25-20), (8-15)
Temple (7-10) will move on to their fourth week in conference play when they face off against nationally-ranked UCF (12-1) away at The Venue in Orlando on Friday, October 14th, at 7:00 PM.
