Coming off of back-to-back wins against Charlotte and Rider, Temple was looking to carry the momentum into its match against UTSA Friday and pick up a third straight win. Temple lost just a single set in the previous wins and it took just one set for the Owls to set the tone Friday.
The first set was close at the beginning, but Temple began to pull away and domination ensued. The Owls easily won the first set by 10, building more confidence for the rest of the match.
The next two sets were closer, with Temple only winning by margins of three and five. Temple let its grip go despite the close matchups and successfully fended off the Roadrunners for their third straight win.
Temple (11-12, 3-6 American Athletic Conference) cruised by UTSA (7-15, 1-8 AAC) 3-0 Friday night at McGonigle Hall. The Owls’ three-game win streak is their longest since they won three straight matches to open the season.
“When you put in a lot of work it always feels good when it pays off,” said Temple head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. “But the weekend is not over, we have another match on Sunday, we’ll enjoy tonight but right back at it tomorrow.”
Temple had an incredibly efficient night with a hitting percentage of .407 and committing just ten errors. Outside hitters Taylor Davenport and Sydney Jones, and Alyssa Finister led the Owls as each recorded double-digit kills. Davenport now moves into seventh all-time in program history in kills with 1,452 career kills.
Temple jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead to begin the first set but UTSA punched back with a 4-1 run to tie things up. The Owls regrouped and used a 5-0 run that included back-to-back blocks by middle blocker Chelci Banks to give themselves a cushion with a 12-7 lead. The Roadrunners never came within four the rest of the set as the Owls coasted a 25-15 to victory.
UTSA stormed back to start the second set and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The Roadrunners excelled from the serve in the second set, compiling four aces by the media timeout. UTSA had a comfortable 15-10 lead going into the break and looked to be in total control of the set.
The timeout proved to be critical for Temple as they reeled off seven straight points to snatch the lead. The two teams continued to battle but it was Temple who came out of the set with a 25-22 victory thanks to a pair of kills from outside hitter Christiana Greene.
“We’re trying to figure out a lot of kinks right now and this just shows we’re getting somewhere and those kinks are getting worked out,” Finister said. “It’s really good to see the practice and all the hard work is paying off.”
The Owls exploded out of the gate in the third set, hoping to send the Roadrunners home without a set win. Temple embarked on an early 7-1 run to take an 8-4 lead, forcing UTSA to call a timeout. The timeout helped the Roadrunners slowly crawl back into the match. A run of errors by Temple completely opened the door for UTSA and they tied the match at 16.
The Owls jumped back into control with a 5-1 run to take a 21-17 lead. UTSA continued to battle with Temple, but the Owls’ offensive firepower was too much. Greene collected the match-winning kill for Temple as it won 25-20 to complete the sweep.
“Our whole conference right now is doing a really good job of being really low error and so it really is coming down to who’s going to hit the ball at a lower rate.” Hampton-Keith said. “They were not erroring either and so they just weren’t quite able to keep up with kills that we were getting at the rate we were getting them at.”
Temple remains at home in its next matchup as they face Rice (12-6, 7-2 AAC) on Oct. 27 at 1 p.m.
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