Antosz answers in Zhang’s absence

With junior outside hitter Yun Yi Zhang battling an ankle injury and playing a reduced role, junior middle back Jessica Antosz responded with a game-high 14 kills to help the Owls beat Rhode Island, 3-1.

Though volleyball coach Bob Bertucci rotated in all his players off the bench, junior middle back Jessica Antosz broke out on Homecoming, leading the Owls to their third straight victory with a three sets to one set defeat against the Rhode Island Rams last Saturday. Temple (9-7, 5-2) defeated Rhode Island, 25-19, 25-11, 25-27 and 25-20 to climb to fourth place in the Atlantic Ten Conference standings.

Antosz finished the match with a game-high 14 kills, nine blocks and three digs after junior outside hitter Yun Yi Zhang played a reduced role in the game after rolling her ankle earlier in the week. Zhang still recorded 10 kills, but Antosz took center stage.

“It was good for us to win out this weekend. It brought us together,” Antosz said. “I feel like Jackie [Morrison] set me up a lot, and everybody contributed on the digs.”

The senior captain had a game-high 45 assists to go with 15 digs and netted her eighth double-double of the season.

Rhode Island (6-13, 1-7) did not resemble a team that dwells near the basement of the A-10 standings early in the first game. Rams sophomore Candice Kolkka tried to set up Rhode Island senior outside hitter Caitlyn Welsh early, but Temple freshman Chelsea Tupuola answered almost every time with her 17 digs.

After cruising in the second game, the defense let its guard down in Set 3. Six Owls errors contributed to the lone blemish on the night.

“Our defense wasn’t as good in Set 3,” Antosz said. “We made too many errors and let them basically have the middle.”

Redshirt freshman middle back Jasmine Waters played beside Zhang and junior outside hitter Jovana Radojevic up front and recorded 10 kills to add to Zhang and Radojevic’s 10 each. The 6-foot-4-inch freshman is still relatively new to the sport but has been getting experience and confidence ahead of schedule as Bertucci rotates players in and out of the lineup.

“The win is a confidence builder. I’m still new to volleyball, and I’m finally getting into a rhythm, and [Radojevic and Zhang] are so influential on me,” Waters said. “It’s helped me come along. I’ve been anticipating this all week, and I’ve been playing my hardest, and it showed tonight.”

Temple will face Duquesne (12-10, 2-5) and a return match with George Washington (16-7, 4-3) in next week’s road trip. Nestled between those two games is a match against No. 19 and defending A-10 champion Saint Louis (13-6, 6-1). The Owls have won just one road match this season.

“Getting the win tonight is good for us going into this road trip,” Bertucci said. “St. Louis is a tough team, and we have to get Zhang 100 percent and cut out the errors if we want to have a shot.”

Christian Audesirk can be reached at christian.audesirk@temple.edu.

Fifth-set slam defeats rival

After splitting their first two games against La Salle and Penn in the Big 5 Tournament, Jackie Morrison, Yun Yi Zhang and Chelsea Tupuola led the Owls back from a 5-1 deficit to beat Villanova.

After a heartbreaking loss to Penn in five sets Friday night to open the Big 5 Volleyball Tournament, the Owls (2-3) stormed back Saturday afternoon with a convincing sweep of La Salle and a thrilling five-set victory over Villanova to finish in second place.

In Game 1, a three-set triumph over the Explorers, it was all Owls, 25-10, 25-15 and 25-20. Senior captain Jackie Morrison continued to lead her team, racking up 26 assists, seven digs and four kills, a statistic that usually belongs to junior outside hitter Yun Yi Zhang.

Zhang, who was named the Atlantic Ten Offensive Player of the Week, played only two of the three sets but still led the game with eight kills. Junior Ariel Pierre continued to show why she is the reigning A-10 Defensive Player of the Week with a game-high 13 digs.

Game 2 proved to be the toughest and in the end, most rewarding win to date for the Owls. A drama-filled, five-set match tested Temple. The Owls fell, 25-9, in set 1, as the Wildcats went on an eight-point run at one point. In set 2, Temple and Villanova traded points until the Owls pulled out an eventual 25-23 victory. Junior Jessica Antosz made big stops in the middle against Villanova’s two big outside threats, sophomore Morgan Petkovich and freshman Krista Andersen. After set 3’s 25-20 loss, Temple bounced back with true freshman Chelsea Tupuola. She saved shot after shot against Villanova on the way to a 25-18 win in set 4.

Enter drama.

Villanova got off to a 5-1 start in the shortened set 5. After a timeout, Zhang, Tupuola and Morrison led the Owls back to a 12-12 tie highlighted by a Morrison slam. From there, Tupuola made a game-changing dig that Zhang followed up with her 33rd kill for a 15-13 win.

“This showed we’re coming to together,” sophomore outside hitter Elizabeth Prang said. “We’re learning how each person can play with each other on the court. We definitely came out there and proved we can win.”

Morrison had a big second game with her 43 assists but still thinks the communication can be better.
“Communication is a big step. If we don’t talk, we crumble,” she said. “We finally realized that after the first set. When we communicate, we come together, and we win, simple as that.”

Coach Bob Bertucci shared the same views as his team’s leader.

“Your setter is your most important player,” he said. “It’s like your quarterback in football. She can’t do anything without great support, and Jackie is running this team with great support.”

One person on the support group has to be Zhang, who is the main component in the offense. Along with Morrison, she was named to the All-Tournament Team, but would rather have something else than personal accolades.

“That’s all just extra,” she said. “All I care about is the team winning. I’d trade individual awards in for three wins any time. This team can go so far, all we have to do is play together.

“It doesn’t really matter what an individual does,” she added. “It has to be the whole team.”

Villanova coach Josh Steinback had high remarks for Temple’s offensive weapon as well.

“So frustrating playing her,” he said. “She is fun to watch, but I’d rather sit in the stands than be on the opposing bench.”

Temple faces two-time defending National Champion Penn State next on Sept. 18 at McGonigle Hall.

Christian Audesirk can be reached at christian.audesirk@temple.edu.

Late game struggles costly for volleyball team

The volleyball team currently has a winning record, but lately it has gone through a rough stretch.

The Owls sit with a 12-10 overall record and a 5-4 record in the East Division of the Atlantic Ten Conference, but in their last five games they have gone 1-4 and have fallen out of first place after losing to George Washington last Friday.

“We’ve played some tough teams, and I think it’s kind of gotten us down,” sophomore striker Caitlin Loudon said. “We’re trying to pick it up now.”

The reason the team has had a poor stretch of games is that they’ve cracked under pressure in late-game situations.

“When it’s early in the match, we’re loose. There is no pressure, and we’re fine,” coach Bob Bertucci said. “As the opponent starts to step up and starts to adjust to what we’re doing and, therefore, put pressure on us, we tighten up.”

This was the case during last Friday’s game against George Washington, as Temple jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Colonials, then failed to put them away and lost the match 3-2.

“We made mistakes at critical times,” Loudon said. “When there’s pressure, we fold.”

Recently, the Owls have also not been at full strength, as injuries, illnesses and personal reasons have put the starting lineup in limbo.

“These players need to be more responsible, take care of themselves, and if they get an accident kind of injury, they have got to do everything they can to get themselves healthy,” Bertucci said. “We can’t afford to have a different starter out every game.”

That has caused the Owls to struggle against the better competition of the A-10 West.

Bertucci said the teams out west have a larger talent base to work with, and volleyball has more of an importance in the Midwest than it does on the East Coast.

“A lot of the teams are older,” Loudon said. “They just have a lot of skilled players, and I think they play a lot more together than they do over here, but we’ll be beating them soon.”

Despite the team’s recent struggles, junior outside hitter Yun-Yi Zhang has put together a good individual season. She leads the A-10 in kills and points and has received A-10 Co-Player of the Week honors.

“She’s a great player and really a talent,” Bertucci said. “Everybody is double- and triple-teaming her, and she needs to get used to competing in that situation, and more importantly, the rest of the team needs to put up the numbers that we need attack-wise so we can spread out.”

The Owls sit six games away from the A-10 Tournament, and their schedule is looking to be a little friendlier.

“We’re getting back into our side of the conference,” Loudon said. “We need to win the rest of these in order to make it to the Tournament.”

The Owls will be facing some teams they have already defeated such as La Salle, Fordham and Charlotte. Despite the youth of the squad, it only has one senior. The Owls still have a chance to finish in first place in the A-10 East.

“I think we’re a pretty good team,” Loudon said, “and once we all work together and everything starts to go well, we’re a hard team to beat.”

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

Spiking their way to the top

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing put the sport of volleyball directly in center stage, viewed around the clock by nations all over the world.

With strong showings on both the male and female sides, the United States made a statement that volleyball is a true American sport, as its men’s and women’s teams won gold and silver medals, respectively.

Meanwhile, on North Broad Street, the volleyball team is doing its best to follow the lead of its professional counterparts.

And so far, so good.

The Owls opened up the Atlantic Ten Conference portion of their schedule with four wins in a row before falling last Sunday to Saint Louis.

All told, the Cherry and White currently stand at 11-7 overall, with a 4-1 record in A-10 play that puts them in first place in the East Division.

Those results have done enough to please junior setter Jackie Morrison, who leads the team with 710 assists. The Stony Brook, N.Y., native has also added 43 kills and 106 digs on the season.
“I feel really good,” she said. “I’m excited. We look better this year.”

Last year, the Owls finished with a 9-4 record in A-10 play, a mark the squad is eager to improve on this season.

Their coach, Bob Bertucci, who is entering his 29th season as Division I coach, looks at the team’s confidence and its chemistry and how it applies to its play.

“The girls get along with each other great,” he said. “Their energy is good. The girls want to be successful.”

After a distinguished career at Army, Rutgers-Newark and Tennessee, Bertucci joined Temple in 1995. He boasts a 645-338 overall record after this weekend’s games, including 293 wins in 14 seasons with Temple.

This distinguished career allows the coach to provide his team with insight toward improving the squad.
“We need to clean up our game,” Bertucci said. “The team is young, and obviously the more they play the more mature they get, and the better they will take care of the ball.”

Paramount to that is the play of junior outside hitter Yun Yi Zhang, who fronts the team with 323 kills and stands in third place with 56 blocks. She is largely responsible for putting points on the scoreboard for the Owls.

Bertucci and the rest of his squad will need her to continue her strong play as the Cherry and White prepare for a road trip to Ohio this weekend to take on Dayton Friday and Xavier Saturday. Both the Flyers and Musketeers are currently undefeated in A-10 Conference play at 2-0, with the Flyers looking to defend last year’s A-10 Championship.

The Owls don’t return home until Oct. 17 against George Washington for the first of four consecutive matches at McGonigle Hall.

Evan Macy can be reached at evan.macy@temple.edu.

Zhang blossoms under McGonigle lights

On the volleyball court, her 6-foot-4-inch frame is hard to miss.

She gracefully lofts the ball with one hand and delivers it with a force that can knock an opponent down. On plays when she stands in front of the net, she can slam the ball to the other side of the court without leaving the floor.

And yet off the court, junior outside hitter Yun Yi Zhang of the volleyball team has a calm and gentle demeanor. As the daughter of former Chinese National Volleyball Team member and current Shandong University head volleyball coach Luo Zhang, she proves that genetics can overcome a late start to a sport, one that she didn’t start playing until the age of 13.

Zhang’s prowess was evident early on. She led her high school to the Shanghai High School Volleyball Championship during her senior season. She was also a member of the Chinese Youth National Team that earned the World Youth title. After high school, Zhang attended Shandong University, but didn’t play volleyball. A year after that, she moved to the United States.

“I came [to the United States] for the education,” she said. “There were Chinese people here [on Temple’s women’s volleyball team] already,” Zhang said.

Also at Temple was her former volleyball coach, current assistant coach Bai Qing Liu.
Since Zhang hadn’t played for a year, there was a slight adjustment period.

“She didn’t start off in the best shape. She came in…she didn’t really work out,” junior setter Jacklyn Morrison said. “She’d get tired in the middle of the game. She wasn’t jumping; she wasn’t hitting as hard.”

But Zhang’s focus and determination soon paid off.

“This year, she worked out all summer,” Morrison said. “She’s really [shown] 100 percent improvement. I can see it in the game how she is quicker [and] so much better.”

Coach Bob Bertucci was also impressed with Zhang’s natural skill.

“Yi was a pretty good athlete when she began, however, her physical fitness has improved,” he said. “We don’t have anyone that size [with] that physical presence. When her shoulder is better, she’ll bring some heat to her spike.”

Despite the conditioning and injury issues, Zhang’s athletic ability at the outside hitter position is impressive. Last year, she was named to the Atlantic Ten Conference All-Rookie Team and Second Team All-A-10. Additionally, she led the team and conference with nearly six kills per match.

During last Friday’s 3-0 victory against Manhattan, Zhang had 12 kills.

“She brings more experience to the team,” Morrison said. “She’s 6 feet 3 inches and hits the ball really hard.”

With a good start to the season and improved conditioning, the sky really is the limit for Zhang. That sentiment also applies to the classroom, as Zhang is pursuing a degree in sport and recreation management.

Though she hasn’t made a decision regarding her volleyball career, Zhang is considering a career in sports, possibly a coaching position.

“If I can play volleyball, that’s great,” she said. “I haven’t decided yet.”

But no matter what she does, it appears that Zhang would make her father proud on any side of the ocean.

Kurt Hirsch can be reached at kurthirsch@temple.edu.