Temple falls short against North Texas

Temple Volleyball (15-8, 5-6 American Athletic Conference) fell to North Texas (12-11, 6-4 American Athletic Conference) 3-2 Friday night. The Owls battled back from a 2-1 deficit, but the Mean Green took control in the fifth set and won the matchup.

The Owls snapped a three-game winning streak and could not remain above .500 in AAC play.

KEY PLAYS

• In the first set, a 4-0 run by North Texas put the score at 18-16, but a late surge and back-to-back blocks by middle blocker Chelci Banks gave the Owls the win at 27-25. 
• In set two, a 12-1 run put North Texas at a 15-4 lead and had Temple searching for answers. A kill by outside hitter Anyse Smith ended the set in a 25-13 for North Texas, tying the match 1-1. 
• North Texas started the third set with a 7-0 run, helped by five Temple errors. Temple finished with nine errors in the set alone. Similarly, nine of the Owls’ 16 points in the third set were caused by errors from the Mean Green.
• A 5-0 Temple run led North Texas to take a timeout while up 23-16. The Mean Green came out of the timeout by scoring two decisive points, winning the third set 25-16. 
• Temple outside hitter Jelena Prolic took off the libero jersey in the fourth set and tallied four kills and two block assists. The Owls forced a fifth set after a 25-20 third-set win. 
• The Owls started the fifth set with a 4-0 run, but North Texas came back with its own 4-0 run to take a one-point lead. 
• Both teams continued to fight until an ace by North Texas middle blocker Sh’Diamond Holly ended the set 15-11 and the match 3-2. 

THE NUMBERS

• The Mean Green hit .204 with 60 kills, and the Owls could not keep up. They finished with 49 kills, hitting a measly .134 percent. 
• Temple outside hitter Taylor Davenport had 15 kills, and outside hitter/middle blocker Olivia Vance followed with 11 kills. 
• Banks led the Owls in blocks with six of their 12 of the night. 
• Temple’s back row was also playing from behind, earning just 48 digs compared to North Texas’ 67. 
• Owls libero Falanika Danielson had 13 digs, and Mean Green libero Aleeyah Galdeira had 21 digs. 

ON TAP

Temple will try to get back to even in conference play on the road against Rice (14-7, 8-3 American Athletic Conference) Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. in Houston, Texas.