After Rice snapped Temple’s three-game win streak on Oct. 27, the Owls looked to right the ship against USF in their game on Friday night. The Bulls sit at the top of the American Athletic Conference standings and an Owls win was sure to help its fading chances at the conference tournament with five games remaining.
For the first set, both teams traded blows before USF got the upper hand. The Bulls captured the first set by just three before blowing the doors open the rest of the way. Temple dropped the next two sets by seven and 10 respectively to drop its second straight game without winning a set.
Temple (11-14, 3-8 AAC) was swept by USF (14-9, 10-2 AAC) 3-0 Friday evening at The Corral. The Owls faced the Bulls twice this season and were swept both times and have now dropped to 1-10 away from North Philadelphia this season.
USF jumped out to an early lead in the first set, going on a 6-1 run that forced Temple head coach Linda Hampton-Keith to call a timeout with the score at 11-5. The Owls regrouped and clawed their way back into the match, cutting the Bulls’ lead to just 17-16. The run prompted USF to burn a timeout of its own.
The Bulls successfully stunted Temple’s comeback as they regained control of the set following the timeout. Temple was unable put a run together to tie the score as USF won the first set 25-22. Both teams were incredibly efficient through the first set as USF hit .354% and Temple hit .303%.
USF started the second set in the same fashion as the first, getting off to an early 4-1 lead with an ace and three kills. The Bulls continued their strong start by going on a 7-1 run to extend their lead to seven Hampton-Keith was forced to use another timeout to stop the bleeding and try to flip the momentum.
Hampton-Keith’s second attempt was unsuccessful, as the Bulls continued their dominance and denied the Owls any comeback. Temple used its last timeout to try and get back into the set after an ace by USF to push its lead to 18-12, but the Bulls kept the charge going and to a 25-18 victory.
Down 2-0 entering the third set, the Owls were desperate to get a victory to stay in the match and avoid their second straight sweep. Temple kept up with the Bulls in the early stages of the set as it was tied 7-7. But then USF caught fire, scoring four straight to snatch the lead. The Bulls tacked on a 3-0 run to head into the media timeout up 15-9.
Back-to-back miscues by USF out of the media timeout allowed Temple to cut the lead down to four, keeping its hopes alive. The Bulls quickly extinguished those comeback hopes, going on a 4-1 run to extend its lead to 19-12.
The Owls were grasping at straws to find momentum and used both of their timeouts. A five-point run for USF extended its lead to 22-12 and sealed the deal on a Temple defeat. The Bulls completed the sweep with an ace winning the set 25-15.
It was clear from the start that the Bulls were the stronger team as they outmatched Temple in nearly every statistical category. USF excelled in its efficiency, finishing with a hitting percentage of .406% compared to Temple’s .211%. Outside hitters Christiana Greene and Taylor Davenport led the Owls in kills with eight each, but their efforts were not enough for Temple to keep up with USF.
Temple stays on the road for its next matchup as it will face off against FAU (13-10, 5-6 AAC) on Nov. 3 at noon.
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