Temple Volleyball Splits Matches on Final Day of the Big 5 Tournament

PHILADELPHIA (The Palestra) - The Temple volleyball team rallied to take the final three sets in a 3-1 win vs. La Salle in the Owls' second match of the Big 5 Tournament, but fell in straight sets to Villanova (25-18, 25-18, 25-21) to finish the weekend with a record of 1-2.

The Owls (2-3) were led by senior Collin Wallace in both matches, as she recorded a match-high 24 kills along with 18 digs against La Salle, and followed that with 12 kills against Villanova. Wallace was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 4.82 kills and 2.82 digs per set over the tournament's three matches.

Chelsea Tupuola led all players with 20 digs in the La Salle match, while Tiffany Connatser notched her fourth double-double of the season with 42 assists and 10 digs. The Owls lost the first set 25-21 but took the next three by scores of 25-17, 25-16 and 25-16.

The Owls struggled with hitting errors in the first set, but still had chances as the set was tied for a seventh time at 20-20. After Wallace knocked down her fifth kill of the set to put Temple with one at 22-21, La Salle got the final three points to go up 1-0 for the match.

Temple cut down on errors the rest of the way and led for nearly the entire rest of the match. Wallace notched an impressive 10 kills on 10 attempts with zero errors in the third set as the Owls out-hit the Explorers, .361 to .182.

After eight early ties in the first set against Villanova, Temple fell behind as the Wildcats used a 6-0 run to take the lead and the set. The Owls suffered a similar fate in the second set and could not recover after a Villanova run at the midway point.

Temple stayed within striking distance throughout the third set and recorded 15 kills to just three errors, but the Wildcats' kept the lead throughout thanks to 18 kills and only two errors.

The Owls will be back in action at home on Tuesday, Sept. 6 in a 7:00 p.m. game against Rider.