Tulane University
Temple
Volleyball Drops Four-Set American Affair At Temple
Oct 25, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Tulane/Temple Box Score In PDF Format 
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - It was a familiar story for the Tulane volleyball team on Sunday afternoon at Tempe as the Green Wave showed flashes of what could be only to come up an eyelash short as the Green Wave dropped a 3-1 American Athletic Conference contest to Owls at McGonigle Hall.
The Wave (7-15, 1-9 American) squandered a set-point opportunity in the opener before falling 26-24 and saw a close frame get away late as Temple (16-6, 7-3 American) won the second set, 25-16. Tulane came through down the stretch with a 25-23, set-three win to extend the match but could not stop Temple down the stretch in the fourth as the Owls came away with a 25-21 victory.
"We had a chance to win the first set and weren't able to pull it out," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "If we could have done that, it changes the whole complexion of the match. Give Temple credit because they played very well. We played well at times, but as has been the case all year, we had breakdowns at key moments that we simply weren't able to overcome."
The outside hitter tandem of junior Tea Juric and Sarah Ray both posted doubled-doubles against the Owls and Tulane hit .252 for the match with 54 kills and 22 errors in 127 total attacks. Juric led the team with 17 kills and 14 digs while Ray finished second on the team in both categories with 15 kills and 11 digs. Juric was one of six Green Wave players to post an ace on the afternoon, junior setter Lauren Etta had a team-best 22 aces and both Juric (all assists) and junior middle blocker Sarah Strasner (1 solo, 2 assists) tallied a trio of blocks.
The Owls soared out to a 6-2 lead to open the match and held a six-point lead at 20-14 late in the first set. Tulane responded with a 9-2 run, capping the rally with a 5-0 streak, to take a 23-22 lead and later held set point at 24-23. Temple, however, sandwiched a pair of kills around a tandem block to score the final three points of the set and take the opener.
The back-and-fourth struggle continued early in the second set as Temple jumped out to a 6-2 lead only to see the Green Wave rally to tie the game at 8-8. Tulane hung tough for a while and trailed by just a pair at 15-13 before the Owls used a 10-3 run to end the set and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The Green Wave fell behind 5-1 early in the third set before using a 9-1 rally to go ahead 10-6. The Owls rallied to tie things up seven timed down the stretch but a service error by Tyler Davis and an attack error by Izzy Rapacz gave Tulane set-point at 24-22. A Caroline Grattan kill kept Temple alive momentarily but Juric put the set away with a kill to extend the match to what proved to be the final frame.
The two teams traded the first six points of the fourth set before Temple took the lead for good on a Grattan kill. The Owls led by as many as six twice -- at 14-8 and again at 22-16 -- but the Green Wave kept things interesting late. Tulane cut the deficit to three at 23-20 on a tandem block by Juric and Strasner and again at 24-21 on a Strasner kill before an offensive miscue accounted for the final points of the contest.
"We have 10 matches left to play this year and I expect to see continued improvement from the girls," Momic added. "They have worked extremely hard all season and when it all finally clicks, we're going to come away from matches like this with a win instead of a loss. We're still a very young team and the potential is there. We just need to raise our level of play a little bit each day and I expect to do just that."
Grattan led the Owls with a match-high 22 kills and hit .356 for the match with just six errors in 45 swings. Davis was next for Temple offensively with 13 kills and Alyssa Drachslin paced the team with a match-best 16 digs. Sandra Sydlik had 51 of Temple's 56 assists, Mia Heirakuji added a pair of aces and Janine Simmons led all players with five blocks (all assists).
The Green Wave return to action on Friday, Oct. 30, when Tulane begin the second round of conference play against USF at 7 p.m. inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse. The contest against the Bulls is the first of a four-match homestand for the Wave, who will host UCF on Nov. 1, Temple on Nov. 6 and UConn on Nov. 8.
Single-match tickets to all Green Wave home volleyball events are available through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at prices of $6 for adults and $4 for youths (ages 3-12) per contest. Tickets can be purchase by clicking HERE or by calling the Tulane Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283).
