Despite two close sets, the Owls couldn’t hold off the Golden Hurricane’s attack, leading to Temple University volleyball’s shutout loss.
The Owls (5-15, 1-8 The American Athletic Conference) lost 3-0 in an aggressive match against the University of Tulsa (11-8, 6-4 The American) on Friday night.
The Owls started off slow in the first set, losing 25-19. Although they gained some rhythm in the second and third set, they ultimately fell 25-23 in both.
“The team really wants to do positive things, and do well,” said head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. “That’s not the question, we just made some crucial mistakes.”
The Owls were thrown off balance after struggling with unforced errors and serve receive, but still played aggressive and kept Tulsa’s lead close.
“Maybe they just want this so badly that they may be tightening up a little bit,” Ganesharatnam said. “From a drill standpoint, a technical standpoint, a practice standpoint, I thought we looked pretty good.”
Graduate student Miray Bolukbasi served up a total of 16 kills and 11 digs. Assisting Bolukbasi was graduate student outside hitter Katerina Papazoglou, who served up nine kills, one ace and 13 digs. Both attacked the Golden Hurricane’s weak side defense.
“[Bolukbasi] was very aggressive on the offense and helped us take some pressure off the pins in general,” Ganesharatnam said. “I thought our middles did a good job connecting and getting some kills for us and it was just some unfortunate mistakes we made that were too much to overcome.”
The Owls will take on Wichita State University (12-6, 6-3 The American) on Oct. 24 at 12 p.m in McGonigle Hall.
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