Temple entered its match against FAU looking to repeat its last performance. Temple swept FAU on Oct. 6 in its first conference win of the season, but it became apparent during the first set that it was an entirely different Temple team from a month ago. Temple got down early and completely collapsed.
Temple was plagued by its own errors in the first set and FAU took advantage. Temple ended the day with 23 attacking errors and nine service errors, totaling 32 points in unforced errors. The errors put Temple in a hole that it was unable to dig itself out of as FAU handily took each set.
FAU blew past Temple by 14 in the first set as Temple’s hitting percentage dipped into the negatives. Temple was unable to get out of its slump for the rest of the game as it dropped its third straight game.
Temple (11-15, 3-9 American Athletic Conference) was swept by FAU (14-10, 6-6 AAC) 3-0 Sunday afternoon at the Abessinio Court in Boca Raton, Florida. The match extends Temple’s losing streak to three games, putting its chances of making the AAC tournament on life support.
Both sides were evenly matched to begin the first set but things quickly took a turn in FAU’s favor. FAU went on an 11-1 run to take complete control of the set at 18-6. Temple has struggled with unforced errors all season long and those struggles were on full display today. Eight of the 11 points in the FAU run were errors committed by Temple.
Temple head coach Linda Hampton-Keith burned both of her timeouts to try to swing momentum back to her team. However, the deficit was too much as Temple fell 25-11. The story of the set was errors as Temple finished with 12 attack errors and three service errors while FAU committed just one of each.
Temple was able to keep pace with FAU in the second set and looked like it could steal a set. Temple broke away with a 6-1 run giving it a three-point lead early in the set. FAU quickly regained control with a 7-2 run, to snatch the lead back as Temple went into the media timeout down by two.
FAU continued its play following the timeout as Temple desperately tried to find a lifeline. A 3-0 run for the Cherry and White brought FAU’s lead down to just one and gave Temple a glimmer of hope to tie the match. FAU immediately responded with a three-point run of its own, regaining control once again. A service error by Temple ended the set, handing FAU the 25-21 win.
Temple found itself in a familiar situation entering the third set, down 2-0 and in dire need of a victory. Temple looked like it stepped up to the occasion in the third set, playing its best volleyball of the day. Going into the media timeout Temple led 15-10 and its lead grew as large as six. An easy victory looked to be on the horizon, but FAU had other plans.
FAU strung together a 6-0 run to tie the set at 21 seemingly out of nowhere, forcing Temple to use both its timeouts. Temple’s struggles of closing games continued and it began to freefall. FAU scored nine of the last 11 points in the set to complete the comeback and the sweep as it won 25-23.
Outside hitter Taylor Davenport was one of the few bright spots for Temple as she recorded 16 kills on the day. Temple’s errors proved to be costly, finishing with 23 attack errors and a hitting percentage of just .136%.
Temple will return to McGonigle Hall to take on Tulane (14-9, 6-5 AAC) on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m.
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