The UConn women’s volleyball team dropped their season opener at Temple in four tight sets. The match brought the Huskies’ two-game win streak against the Owls to an end.
UConn had a very promising start to the match. They raced out to an early lead in the first set and put tons of pressure on Temple. In the middle of the set, UConn built up a substantial lead and never looked back. The Huskies were playing exceptionally well and were in full control. UConn utilized back-to-back kills to close out the first set emphatically, 25-17.
The Owls responded quickly after being outplayed in the first set. Temple captured an early lead in the second set and was firing on all cylinders. The Owls maintained a dominant lead throughout the set, reaching 20-13 at one point before UConn started to mount a comeback. The Huskies came within one point of Temple, bringing the score to 22-23, but were unable to take the lead. Temple never trailed in the second set and took it 25-23.
UConn and Temple were neck and neck all the way through the third set. Both teams sensed the importance of the set and fought incredibly hard to capture it. The third set saw seven lead changes and 17 ties. In the end, Temple was able to force a couple of UConn errors to close out the set 26-24.
The fourth set was extremely close in the early stages. The score was tied at six points apiece before Temple took a four-point lead. UConn bounced back and tied things up again at 16 before losing momentum. Temple wrapped up the fourth set 25-19 thanks to a 9-3 run. Temple moves to 2-0 on the season and 13-7 all-time against UConn.
Temple finished the match with a .252 to .214 edge in attacking percentage. The Owls also finished with a seven-kill advantage while the Huskies fired five more aces. Caylee Parker led UConn in kills with 17, while Madi Whitmire notched 34 assists and 5 aces in the defeat. Genna Florig contributed six blocks and a team-high .455 attacking percentage.
The Huskies will look to rebound and capture their first win of the season when they travel to Boston to take on Northeastern on Friday, Feb. 12.
