SMU Volleyball Beats Temple
DALLAS (SMU) – Avery Acker became the sixth player in program history with 1,000 assists in a season, finishing with 46 assists and 13 digs for her 11th double-double of the season in SMU’s 3-0 win against Temple Friday night.
SMU (18-9, 10-4 American Athletic Conference) had three players record at least 10 kills, led by Cailin Bula’s match-high 13 kills. Abbey Bybel had 12 kills with six digs, and Caroline Young finished with 10 kills and four blocks. Freshman Janelle Giordano recorded nine kills with three blocks.
It took extra points in the third set, but the Mustangs held on for a 27-25 win to record their 11th 3-0 victory of the season. Down 22-21, SMU scored three straight points to take a 24-22 lead and get two attempts at match point. Temple (17-8, 8-5 American) scored three straight to take a 25-24 lead, serving to extend the match to a fourth set. After an SMU timeout, Bula scored kills on the next three points to end the match.
The Mustangs hit .336 for the match, and had 54 kills to Temple’s 36. The Mustangs had eight blocks and 43 digs, holding the Owls to a .144 attack percentage. Morgan Heise had nine digs with five assists and a kill in the win, and Maddie Lozano finished with nine kills and four blocks.
Lozano had six kills in the first set to lead the Mustangs to a 25-19 win. With a one point lead, 16-15, SMU scored four straight points to take a 20-15 lead. The Owls cut the lead to three, 21-18, but SMU scored three
of the last four points to win the set, with Lozano scoring the last two kills. SMU hit .441 in the set, scoring 17 kills while holding Temple to 12 with a .214 attack percentage.
SMU scored nine of the first 12 points in the second set, but the Owls rallied back to cut the lead to two, 10-8. The Mustangs answered with an 8-3 run, taking an 18-11 lead, and Temple was unable to threaten the rest of the set. SMU out-scored the Owls 7-5 down the stretch to take a 2-0 lead with the 25-16 win. Bybel led the offensive attack for the Mustangs with five kills, and Giordano had three of SMU’s six blocks with four kills in the set.
The Mustangs host Memphis in the final home match of the season Sunday at 1 p.m. The SMU volleyball program will honor its seniors in a prematch ceremony.
