After a victory against Memphis on Friday night, Bakeer Ganes’ team could not get a direct flight from Memphis to Cincinnati on Saturday and had a layover in Charlotte.
When the Owls arrived in Cincinnati for Sunday’s match, they kept things rolling with a 3-1 victory.
In the first set on Sunday, Temple got behind early and could never climb back in the set, as it lost, 25-20. Ganes felt dropping the first set was just a sign of the team’s busy weekend traveling catching up to them.
“I think it just kind of shows how tough it is to play on the road,” Ganes said.
While Cincinnati got off to a good start, the Owls were able to settle in and take the second set, 25-17.
“It was still a very tough set,” Ganes said of the second set. “We had to really work, It was very important.”
A rollercoaster of a third set ended with the Owls on top, 26-24. Recently, Temple has lost a few of these close sets, including a 37-35 third set to Tulsa and a 27-25 fourth set to Southern Methodist. But Ganes liked the fight his team showed to pull through and take a 2-1 lead on Sunday.
“At this point in the season, especially when you’re playing on the road, it really comes down to the willpower,” Ganes said.
Temple would win another tight set in the fourth by a score of 25-22 to wrap up the match. Sophomore outside hitter Tyler Davis led the team with 15 kills, and junior libero Alyssa Drachslin contributed 15 digs. While Ganes’ team is now 18-6 and 9-3 in the American Athletic Conference, he said there’s always room for improvement.
“We certainly have things we need to work on,” he said. “There’s a lot of work ahead of us and we’re going to go back and regroup.”
Greg Frank can be reached at greg.frank@Temple.edu or on Twitter @g_frank6.
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