Temple came into the match against FAU after being swept in back-to-back matches and was looking to get on the right track in conference play. It didn’t take long to see Sunday’s matchup was going to be a different story.
On their home court, the Cherry and White flipped the script and stole the first set in a back-and-forth affair. Temple didn’t stop there and continued to pressure FAU for the rest of the afternoon to record its own sweep.
Temple (7-9, 1-3 American Athletic Conference) cruised by Florida Atlantic (10-6, 2-2 AAC) 3-0 Sunday afternoon in McGonigle Hall. Temple snapped out of its three-game losing streak and picked up its first conference victory of the year.
“Obviously it feels great, but more importantly it’s a step in the right direction,” said Temple head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. “We knew we were right there in all of these matches and were waiting for that breakthrough and that breakthrough came today.”
The first set stayed extremely close throughout as no team led by more than three points. Temple has struggled to close out games all season but was looking to change the narrative early in the game.
Temple gained the advantage late with a 23-21 lead that forced FAU to use a timeout. FAU came out of the break with back-to-back points to tie the set, which caused Hampton-Keith to call a timeout of her own.
FAU took control of the set with a 25-24 lead, but Temple did not give up. Coming out of the timeout FAU committed a service error to tie the set once again. Outside hitter Taylor Davenport gave Temple the lead with a kill. FAU committed another attacking error, handing Temple the first set 27-25.
“We were really focused on the next point, staying present and in the moment and not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” Hampton-Keith said. “We just tried to stay in the moment and keep pushing relentlessly till the end.”
Temple came on all cylinders to begin the second set, going up 4-1 to start. However, FAU clawed its way back into the set and even took the lead 19-18. Temple was not discouraged, going on a 6-1 run to retake the advantage at 24-20. Temple took the final point to win the set 25-21 with a powerful kill by outside hitter Christiana Greene.
Temple had total control of the match with a 2-0 lead going into the third set. FAU was looking to dig itself out of the hole and began the third set aggressively, rattling off three straight points. Determined to clinch the win in straight sets, Temple could not be stopped.
“It felt like a lot of energy, we kept bringing it, we fought really hard.” said outside hitter Sydney Jones. “I feel like we have been talking about the same things in practice, how we need to keep our energy up, communicate when things aren’t going our way and I feel like we did that today.”
The Cherry and White fought its way back into the third set to take a mere one-point lead at 9-8. From there, Temple rode its momentum and did not give up its lead. Temple finished the set in a commanding manner with two kills and an ace to win 25-18.
FAU gave everything it had but was plagued by self-errors, which were the difference in the match. FAU recorded seven service errors compared to Temple’s three. Both teams had 43 digs but Temple only recorded two more kills than FAU. Jones carried Temple with 15 kills, the most she’s had since her season-high 22 kills against Presbyterian on Sept. 8.
Temple will continue its home stretch at McGonigle looking to build a win streak when they host Binghamton (11-6, 1-1 AAC) on Oct. 9 at noon.
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