After Temple took the first two sets of its match against Tulane, the Owls were looking to win the third set to complete the sweep and end their three-game losing streak. However, taking the third set proved to be easier said than done.
The Green Wave gave the Owls everything they could handle and the game-clinching set. Neither team could gain an advantage of more than three points and the set needed more than 25 points to be decided.
Tulane reached match point and Temple was on the brink of losing and having the match extended. However, the Owls rallied and scored three straight points to win the set and complete the win.
Temple (12-15, 4-9 American Athletic Conference) swept Tulane (14-11, 6-7 AAC) 3-0 Friday night at McGonigle Hall. The Owls remain on the outside looking into the AAC Tournament and the win keeps their hopes alive with just three games left in the season.
“We’re still in contention for the conference tournament, so I think that’s really exciting,” said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. “Now it’s just a matter of how things are going to fall here in the final stretch. If we can play the way we did tonight then I think we’ve got a really great shot.”
There was very little to separate the two teams to begin the first set. They remained neck and neck with the score sitting at eight apiece until the Green Wave went on a four-point run to take the lead. The Owls quickly responded with a 5-1 run to tie the set once again.
The back-and-forth battle continued into the media timeout as Tulane went into the break with a one-point advantage. The Owls came out of the break and immediately flipped the momentum, scoring two straight and taking back the lead at 16-15.
Tulane was forced into a timeout following another pair of back-to-back Temple points. After the timeout, Temple continued its run and extended its lead to three. The Owls carried that lead into set point where Tulane used its final timeout to try and start a comeback.
Two consecutive points by the Green Wave seemed to be the momentum switch they were looking for, but a kill from outside hitter Sydney Jones ended the set as Temple won 25-23.
The second set looked to be as close as the first with the score tied at six early on. However, Temple took off, using its momentum from the previous set. The Owls went on a dominant 8-1 run to take the lead at 14-7 and never looked back.
Tulane called a timeout in the middle of the run but the Green Wave were unable to ice the Owls. Tulane scored three straight points looking to fight back into the set but it was too late as Temple cruised to victory in the second set winning 25-15.
“Our serving was really tough, we really put them on their heels,” Hampton-Keith said. “We got a little streaky with some errors, but they were aggressive errors and we were really just going for it. I think that allowed us to capitalize on some of their errors and created the big disparity in the second set.”
Tulane was in desperate need of a victory in the third set as it was down 2-0 and facing a sweep. A 4-0 run gave the Green Wave hope, and outside hitter Sami Jacobs led her team into the media timeout on a 3-0 run after a kill and an ace.
Temple remained focused on closing out the win as it came out of the break on fire. The Owls scored six of the next seven points and took a two-point lead at 18-16. A three-point run for Tulane forced Temple into using a timeout to try and prevent a comeback. Temple responded with its own 3-0 run to steal the lead once again.
Tulane had the advantage late after a service error by Temple outside hitter Taylor Davenport gave the Mean Wave set point. However, the Owls had their eyes set on winning as Jones had a block and outside hitter Christiana Greene recorded two kills, giving Temple the next three points to take the 27-25 win.
“I really liked the composure and fight our team showed in that moment,” Hampton-Keith said. “We showed we can do that and hopefully we gained confidence from that. It could have been easy to just let go and go to the fourth set, but we really held on.”
Temple remains at McGonigle Hall for its next matchup against North Texas (8-15, 5-7 AAC) on Nov. 10 at 1 p.m.
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