A familiar foe from Temple’s days in the Atlantic 10 was back on North Broad Street Friday night as Charlotte came in to take on the Owls. It was Temple’s first home match of the season and fourth of the year after winning the Syracuse Invitational last weekend.
Temple struggled early on, as Charlotte tallied 16 kills to Temple’s 10 and took the first set 25-20. Coach Bakeer Ganes felt his players were a little nervous early on and implored them to settle down.
“After the first set I just told the players to just kind of relax a little bit,” Ganes said.
The Owls caught their stride early on in the second set winning 10 of the first 14 points. However, the Owls lost momentum in the middle of the set, where they saw the 10-4 lead become a 13-12 in favor of Charlotte. Temple responded, however, reclaiming the lead and taking the second set 25-20.
After pulling out a close second set, the Owls seemed to gain confidence, having their best set of the match in the third, one that they would win 25-16. While Charlotte hung around in the fourth, Temple held their lead, winning the set 25-21 to take the match.
Sophomore outside hitter Tyler Davis recorded 14 kills after accumulating just 13 in the entire Syracuse Invitational. She felt the presence of the diamond band helped her confidence.
“Being home obviously gives you a huge advantage,” Davis said. “The band really helped with the noise and distracting them.”
Ganes shared those sentiments, pleased by the band’s thunderous playing during timeouts.
“The band makes a tremendous difference,” Ganes said. “They’re unbelievable. Not just for us, pumping us up, but kind of deflating the opponent too.”
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