The women’s volleyball team dropped its fourth straight match tonight, this time falling to a very talented Delaware team.
The Owls (3-7) were swept for the third time this season by the Blue Hens (3-8), who’s record is relatively misleading after losing against powerhouses like Stanford, Oregon and Florida State.
“This was a pretty rough match for us just because Delaware’s actually a pretty good team,” coach Bakeer Ganes said. “Their record is very deceiving, because the teams they lost to were basically all ranked.”
The Owls were swept in straight sets, with their closest lost in the first set, 25-17. A key to the first-set loss, and the sweep, was unforced errors. The Owls had six service errors, four of them in the first set.
“So imagine if we had not made those unforced errors or at least kept it to a more reasonable number like one or two,” Ganes said. “[We would have been] competing for that set.”
“And that’s the thing the kids have to understand is if you want to compete at the highest level you really have to minimize your mental errors,” Ganes added. “That’s the difference between good teams and great teams, and that’s the difference between a good player, or average player, and a very good player.”
Senior outside hitter Collin Wallace led the Owls with eight kills on 23 attempts, as the team put together a .026 hitting percentage, compared to Delaware’s .294.
Neither team had a player record double-digit kills. Sophomore outside hitter Katie Hank had a match high nine kills for the Blue Hens. The lone bright spot for the Owls came from junior libero Chelsea Tupuola, who tallied a match high 19 digs.
After dropping the first set, Temple fell quietly 25-11 and 25-12 in the last two sets, marking their fourth consecutive loss.
“I’m asking a lot from my players,” Ganes said. “They didn’t really have a very successful season last year, and a lot of these kids are young kids as well. So a lot of the things I’m asking from them will come with time.”
The team will return to practice tomorrow and focus on the Pitt Blue and Gold Tournament, hosted by Pittsburgh on Friday and Saturday.
“The thing is, a night like this is frustrating, but we have got to stay focused and look on the things we need to work on and keep working on it,” Ganes said. “That’s the only way we can get better.”
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