From the start of Saturday’s match, No. 21 ranked Stanford University played aggressively and didn’t miss a beat on offense putting the Owls’ defense on its heels
Temple University women’s volleyball (1-2, 0-0 The American Athletic Conference) lost 3-0 against the Cardinal ( 2-0, 0-0 The Pac-12 Conference) in their match on Saturday evening, but the Owls tried to combat that aggression with a defensive focus.
“I think we played really well on defense considering the offensive power that Stanford has,” said head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. “I thought our transition work on defense was pretty good. We got some good touches at the block that really helped us to pick up those balls and re-attack.”
Graduate student outside hitter Miray Bolukbasi, who served up 12 kills and five digs, helped Temple change up the tempo which helped bring the Owls back in the second and third set which they lost 25-20 and 25-22 respectively.
Junior outside hitter Gem Grimshaw had a strong performance. She led the team with 13 kills, one ace and eight digs. Despite the shut out, Grimshaw carried the team’s offensive consistency throughout the match.
“She had different shots and attacked the areas we told her to attack, so I was very pleased with that, ”Ganesharatnam said. I thought [Grimshaw] had a really good overall game, really strong performance, very similar to what she had last year in the semi-finals and finals, so I’m really happy to see how they’re responding.”
Freshman setter Patrycja Zielinsk, who finished with 24 assists, had big shoes to fill as a newcomer to the program, but she did just that.
The Owls will continue to work on serve receive in preparation for the Hilton Philadelphia Penn’s Landing Cherry and White Challenge tournament, which will start with a matchup against Iona College (1-2, 0-0 The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) on Sep. 3 at 10:30 a.m. at McGonigle Hall.
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