Asci's Career Day Leads Volleyball Over Houston, 3-1

Sunday, September 25

McGonigle Hall

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

8-4, 1-1American

Houston

5-8, 0-2American

Houston

Temple

Asci's Career Day Leads Volleyball Over Houston, 3-1

9.25.16 | Women's Volleyball

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PHILADELPHIA -- Led by a career-high 26 kills from junior Irem Asci, the Temple volleyball team nabbed its first conference win of the season, topping visiting Houston, 3-1. The Owls notched a season-best .338 attack to rebound from a 25-23 set one loss,taking the final three frames, 25-21, 25-17, 25-17. Temple improves to 8-4 overall, 1-1 in The American, while Houston dips to 5-7, 0-2 in conference play.

Temple hit .297 or better in all four sets, topping their previous best attack of .337 against Rutgers. The Owls also out-blocked the Cougars, 11-5, holding Houston to a .159 hitting percentage.

Individually, Asci led the Owl offense with her career-best 26 kills. She hit .388 with seven digs, four blocks, and two aces. Senior Tyler Davis finished with 10 kills to just one error, tying a team-best with a .429 attack. Junior Izzy Rapacz notched eight kills, also hitting .429. Sophomore Iva Deak had six kills and five blocks, while classmate Carla Guennewig added five kills. Junior Kyra Coundourides recorded 40 assists and 10 digs for her third-straight double-double, while sophomore Hannah Vandegrift added 13 assists in the win.

Defensively for the Owls, sophomore Mia Heirakiuji tallied 15 digs, while junior Dara Peric added 11 and Vandegrift had nine. At the net, senior Kirsten Overton had a team-best six blocks.

Temple had the lead in the first set, going up 16-12 on a Tyler Davis kill. From there, Houston rallied for five-straight points to take a 17-12 advantage. The teams went back and forth trading sideouts, tying at 19-19, before the Owls scored two-straight to make it 21-19. Houston again tied it up, but the Owls answered with an Asci kill and a Coundourides ace to make it 23-21 Temple. Those proved to be the last cherry and white points of the set, as Houston scored four in a row to end the set with a 25-23 victory.

Houston led for the early part of the second set, but the lead changed hands three times until Temple took a 12-11 advantage. From there, the Owls used a 6-1 run to go up 18-12 on two kills each from Asci and Guennewig. Temple was able to stretch its lead to 24-17 before Houston scored four unanswered to cut the lead to 24-21. On the next touch, Coundourides set up Asci who hammered the set-winner down the line, as Temple tied the match 1-1.

Temple's attack had its best performance in the third set, as the Owls hammered 17 kills with just three errors to hit .467. Despite the offensive surge for Temple, Houston led as late as 11-10. Temple took over the lead, but Houston answered and the teams traded side-outs until two-straight Cougar points cut the Owl advantage to just 18-17. From there, Temple closed out the set on a 7-0 run, as Asci hammered three kills during the stretch, giving the Owls a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth set, Houston led 14-11 before a 6-1 Temple run put the Owls on top, 17-12 on a block from Rapacz and Deak. Houston cut the Owl lead to 20-17, but Temple scored five in a row, incuding two kills from Davis, to win the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-1.

The Owls will return to conference play on Wednesday at UConn, taking on the Huskies at 5:00 p.m.

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