Temple walked into its last home match of the season fresh off a two-match winning streak, looking to give itself a chance to make the American Athletic Conference tournament. Despite besting ECU in two sets, the Owls’ postseason hopes now lie on the outcomes of other matches around the conference.
Temple was behind for most of the first set but almost made a comeback with five straight points. However, the early deficit cost them and the Pirates walked away with the one-set lead. The Owls followed up strongly and won the next two sets to take a two-one lead in the match.
The fourth set was the quickest of the match as ECU went on two separate six-point runs and Temple couldn’t make it past 15 points. Entering the make-or-break fifth set, the Pirates went on a five-point scoring run to seal the deal on the Owls’ loss.
Temple (13-16, 5-10 AAC) fell to ECU (18-8, 11-5 AAC) 3-2 Friday night at McGonigle Hall. The match marked the fourth time this season the Owls brought a match to five sets and the second time they lost in a five-set battle.
“I felt like a lot of the match was choppy,” said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. “We would go on runs and then it would get a little muddy. It was definitely not our cleanest match but I loved how we responded and fought through it.”
ECU leaped out to an early lead, scoring five of the first six points to set the tone early. Temple continued to fight but found itself down by six at 15-9. Both teams continued to exchange points following the media timeout, but ECU remained in control.
The Owls couldn’t put a run together and it looked like the Pirates would walk to an easy victory. However, the Owls went on a 6-1 run, bringing the lead down to just two at ECU’s set point after a Temple timeout. The Pirates called a timeout of their own to slow Temple’s momentum and they closed out the first set with a kill to win 25-22.
Temple’s hot finish in the opening set continued in the second set as it jumped to a 5-1 lead right away. A five-point Owls’ run toward the middle of the set extended their lead to six at 12-6. The Pirates looked as if they had found a spark of life with a 3-0 run, but Temple immediately responded with back-to-back points, forcing ECU to use its second timeout.
The Pirates clawed their way back into the set with three straight points to cut Temple’s lead to two at 21-19. Outside hitter Sydney Jones recorded two kills to put Temple at set point, but ECU continued to fight. The Pirates scored two consecutive points which forced Hampton-Keith into calling another timeout. Temple put the set to bed after the timeout with a kill by middle blocker Alyssa Finister to win 25-23.
“We made a lot of improvement, we were better earlier and really stuck to our game plan,” Hampton-Keith said. “We were really prepared for the match and I feel like we came out with great intentions.”
Both teams were evenly matched starting the third set as they were tied up with eight points apiece. ECU took the initial lead with a 4-1 run to go up 12-9. Temple marched back with a 6-1 run, earning itself a two-point lead. The Pirates flipped the momentum and responded with a 5-1 run to take the 18-16 lead.
Temple found itself down by two late into the set when it embarked on a three-point run to completely flip the set on its head with the Owls taking a 22-21 lead. A kill by outside hitter Christiana Green and two aces in a row by defensive specialist Nalani McBride forced ECU to use a timeout. Outside hitter Taylor Davenport secured the last two kills for the Owls as they picked up the victory 25-23 and took control of the match.
The two teams couldn’t be separated to start the fourth set. After being down by one, the Pirates hit their stride at the right time with a 6-0 run to take a commanding lead. From there, ECU cruised through the rest of the set. Davenport looked to change the course of the set with a kill and an ace but the Pirates scored the last six points to win the set 25-15.
With the match tied up, the fifth and final set started close once again. However, it was the Pirates who took the lead first with a three-point run to put the score at 6-4. Temple ran out of gas in the fifth set as ECU put the score at 13-7 by scoring five straight points. The Pirates’ lead was too large for Temple to comeback as ECU won 15-9.
“It was an opportunity that was in front of us and we fought for it really hard,” Hampton-Keith said. “Now we’ve got to make sure we’re locked in to go on the road.”
Temple finishes its regular season schedule on the road against Charlotte (5-23, 2-13 AAC) on Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. with its postseason hopes in limbo.
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