Owls suffer narrow defeat to Cougars

Temple University Volleyball (7-8,1-3 American Athletic Conference) lost 3-1 in a four-set match against The University of Houston (13-2, 4-0 American) in their fourth conference game of the season on Sunday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. After splitting the first two sets 1-1, the Owls collapsed in the third set and could not match the energy of a tough second set to lose to the Cougars.

KEY PLAYS

• A service ace by junior Annie Cooke set the tone for the final plays by Houston and gave the Cougars the edge needed to close out the first set, winning it 25-21. 
• A service ace from sophomore Nikki Shimao set Temple up with the advantage late in the second set.
• Kills from freshman middle blocker Samantha Jo Mikosky and redshirt senior Peyton Boyd gave Temple the win in a dramatic second set. 
• A kill by graduate Kortlyn Henderson early in the third set gave the Cougars the lead 4-3 and they never looked back. 
• A service ace by senior Rachel Tullos doubled the lead for Houston, making the score 16-8. 
• A kill by senior Abbie Jackson gave the Cougars the set win to take the lead 2-1
• An attack error by sophomore outside hitter Taylor Davenport gave Houston the lead 17-16 in a close final set. 
• The Cougars wouldn’t give up this lead and a kill by graduate Isabel Theut put the Cougars over the top, winning the game 3-1.

THE NUMBERS

• Abbie Jackson led both teams with a game-high 21 kills, followed up by Theut with 15. 
• Davenport didn’t lead the game with attack attempts for the first time since conference play began. Abbie Jackson led both teams with 51 attempts followed by Davenport who led Temple with 47 attempts. 
• Houston hit .264 percent over four sets compared to the Owls who hit .190 percent. 
• Temple recorded 11 service errors compared to nine by Houston.
• Temple had seven blocks over four sets. 

WORDS FROM COACH

“We did everything really well,” said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. “The difference between the top half and bottom half of the conference is one or two plays per set and so if we can just clean those up and be on task a little bit longer and a little more focused, then those things change and go our way.” 

ON TAP

The Owls will look to come back stronger in their next game against East Carolina University (6-10, 1-3 American) on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.