The Owls picked up a tournament victory as they continued in the Patriot Invitational in Fairfax, Va.
With 3-1 victories over host school George Mason, and Coppin State yesterday, combined with the win over Radford Friday night, the Owls took home the title. Senior Gabriella Matautia was named both tournament MVP and Best Attacker, while sophomore Sandra Sydlik earned Best Setter honors. With the tournament win, Temple now sits at 4-1 on the season, winners of four straight matches.
“We were pretty consistent with our serving throughout the tournament,” coach Bakeer Ganes said. “I thought the match we played yesterday against Radford was our best serving match all tournament but that part of our game was definitely the best all weekend.”
Over the three matches, Matautia racked up 54 kills, which led the tournament, along with 33 total digs and 13 blocks. Sydlik totaled just fewer than 100 assists in just eight sets. She sat out the match against Coppin State.
“We worked really well together,” said Matautia. “And we fought for every point and stuck to our game plan and the scouting reports. As a team we tried to keep up the intensity level. I think this weekend showed that our team has improved and we’re happy with the progress, but we still do have a lot more to work on.”
Senior Emily Carlin, who shined all weekend in the tournament, was the main contributor in beating Coppin State. Carlin’s double-double of 19 kills and 15 digs led the Owls versus Coppin State, as they won the first set 25-14, lost the second 25-22 and went on to win the third and fourth by scores of 25-23.
Temple defeated the George Mason Patriots by scores of 25-17, 18-25, 25-13 and 25-23. The Owls recorded 62 total kills to George Mason’s 43, falling behind only in the second set but controlling most of the rest of the match.
“Today we were a little up and down, but overall we finished sets and closed out games and that was really good,” Ganes said. “I thought Coppin State was underrated. They were a really tough opponent….This gives the team confidence moving forward. We earned this tournament win.”
Temple returns to the court next weekend at the Penn Invitational starting Sept. 14 in which the Owls will face Weber State, La Salle and Penn.
Rich Fogel can be reached at rich.fogel@temple.edu or on Twitter @RBFogel26.
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