Volleyball Tops Hofstra in Seton Hall Tournament Opener

Friday, September 4

South Orange, N.J.

4:30 p.m.

Temple University

3-1

Hofstra

4-2

Temple University

Hofstra

Temple moved to 3-1 with a win over Hofstra

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Volleyball Tops Hofstra in Seton Hall Tournament Opener

9.4.15 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — The Temple volleyball team opened the Seton Hall Invitational in winning fashion, posting a 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22) victory over Hofstra on Friday night. Temple improves to 3-1 on the season, while Hofstra, a 2014 NCAA tournament team, moves to 4-2.

Sophomore Irem Asci led the Owl attack, recording 17 kills, while classmate Izzy Rapacz had 14 kills and five blocks. Junior Tyler Davis had 12 kills and four aces, while junior Kirsten Overton had six kills and a team-high six blocks. Senior setter Sandra Sydlik had 48 assists with eight digs and four aces, while senior Alyssa Drachslin had 19 digs.

With each set decided by just three points, it was Temple who got hot when it counted. The Owls squashed any hopes of long runs by a veteran Hofstra team, remaining within striking distance in each set.

Head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam was happy with the resiliency that the team showed. "Overall, the team is confident in what we can do, but we're not underestimating anyone," he noted. "Hofstra played really well today and we could have easily folded after the second set. But we've been working on that and we did a good job and will look to continue to improve the rest of the season."

Temple held a slim edge throughout a close first set. Hofstra battled back on several occasions, including to a an 18-18 tie, but the Owls surged down the stretch. TU closed out the 25-22 win on a Rapacz kill and an attack error from the Pride to go up, 1-0.

The Owls played with a small deficit through much of the second set. Hofstra took its largest lead of the action at 17-13 before kills from Overton, Asci, and sophomore Janine Simmons made it 17-16. Temple was able to tie the match at 18-18 on a solo block from Sydlik, but the teams traded sideouts until it was 22-22. Temple then took over with three-straight points, using an Overton kill, a Hofstra error, and a Davis ace to take set two, 25-22.

In a close third set, Hofstra took over the lead after a 14-14 tie and held it through the end of the set. The Pride surged late, going up 23-17, before Temple battled back to make it a 23-21 set, with a kill from Rapacz and a block from the Rapacz/Overton tandem. Hofstra was able to hang on, however, grabbing set three, 25-22.

The fourth set saw Temple fall behind early, but a timeout led to a 4-1 Owl run to tie the set at 10-10 on a Davis ace. The match went back-and-forth once again, until it settled at a 15-15 tie. From there, the Owls grabbed the momentum, using strong play at the net. Blocks from Simmons, Davis, Overton, and Rapacz put the Owls in the drivers seat, as Temple went up 24-19. Hofstra cut the lead to 24-22, but Temple got an Asci kill to close out the set, and take the match, 3-1.

Ganesharatnam pointed to Temple's blocking in set four, which allowed the team to grab momentum down the stretch. "Our blocking was one of the adjustments that we had to make today that worked," he said. "We did a good job, Izzy [Rapacz] especially. She has some really good blocks at crucial times that changed the momentum."

Temple jumps right back to action tomorrow with a pair of matches in the tournament. The Owls open at 12:00 p.m. against Notre Dame, and will face Seton Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Box Score (PDF)