Following a loss to UAB on Oct. 11, Temple hoped to get back on track against Memphis Sunday. The Owls seemed to have gotten a spark to begin the match, immediately jumping out to a five-point lead and a first set victory looked like a guarantee.
The Tigers pulled the rug right from under the Owls right after, mounting a 15-point swing and taking a seven-point lead in the blink of an eye. Temple was unable to recover from the early collapse and dropped the first set without much of a fight. The loss snowballed and the Owls had no answers, leading to being swept for the second straight game.
Temple (8-11, 1-5 American Athletic Conference) was swept by Memphis (9-9, 3-3 AAC) 3-0 Sunday afternoon at the Larry O. Finch Center. The Owls have now been swept for the eighth time this season and drop to 0-8 on the road.
Temple has had a habit of not being able to close out sets after taking the upper hand and that continued Sunday. The Owls sprinted out to a 7-2 lead but Memphis responded with a 10-1 run to flip the momentum. Memphis dominated from behind the service line, picking up five aces compared to Temple’s zero, which helped flip the script in a 25-15 first-set victory.
The same issues plagued the Owls in the second set and they were unable to maintain their early lead. Temple got off to a 9-6 lead before Memphis quickly snatched the lead back by scoring five straight points. Outside hitter Tabytha Toelke recorded a kill and two aces in the run. The two teams spent the remainder of the set in a back-and-forth battle with neither side able to pull away.
A kill by outside hitter Christiana Greene gave Temple a 22-21 lead and a chance to even the score with a second-set win. But the Tigers weren’t fazed and promptly scored the next three points to take the lead.
Temple outside hitter Sydney Jones looked to regain momentum for the Owls by killing the ball but Memphis outside hitter Jasmyn Tate secured a kill of her own to spoil their hopes. The Tigers scored four of the last five points to win the second set 25-23 and put the Owls backs against the wall trailing by two.
Memphis dominated Temple in nearly every facet of the game during the first two sets. The Tigers had more blocks, digs, kills, aces and hitting percentage as they cruised their way through the first two sets.
The Owls attempted to go on the attack in desperation mode to keep their hopes of victory alive, but Memphis had different plans. The Tigers kept their foot on the gas throughout and held a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. Memphis continued attacking as a committee with five players recording five or more kills.
Following the timeout, Jones had two attacking errors that Memphis took advantage of. Temple head coach Linda Hampton-Keith used both her timeouts late in the set to try and slow down the Tigers’ momentum, but it was too late. The Tigers scored six of the last eight points to win the set 25-19.
Memphis was able to fend Temple off throughout the match thanks to its efficiency at the net, finishing with .396 hitting percentage. The Owls’ defense was unable to keep up, recording six fewer digs than the Tigers and only having two blocks but five blocking errors.
Temple was also outmatched at the service line, ending the day with just two aces while the Tigers had ten. Both of the Ows’ aces came in the second set with outside hitter Taylor Davenport and Jones each having one. Davenport and middle blocker Chelci Banks led Temple in kills, with 10 and seven respectively. Jones was the only other Owl to record more than five kills.
Temple will remain on the road when they face East Carolina (10-5, 3-2 AAC) on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.
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