Volleyball Posts 3-1 Road Victory at Temple

Friday, August 27

Philadelphia, Pa.

7 PM

University of Delaware

2-0,0-0CAA

Temple

0-1,0-0AAC

Delaware

Temple

8/27/2021 9:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Delaware volleyball team wrapped up the opening day of its 2021 campaign with a 3-1 victory over Temple on Saturday night.

"I am proud of the team's response after losing the second set," head coach Sara Matthews said. "We talked about maintaining a certain level of composure and after the first set, we didn't do that. I thought we did a good job getting back to what we do best in the final two sets though."

The Blue Hens are now 2-0 to start the season, marking the first time since 2018 that Delaware came out victorious in each of its first two matches.

Lani Mason led the way with a game-high 22 kills to pair with eight digs against the Owls (1-1).

"Lani was fantastic today," Matthews said. "She has been working on her out of system hitting and using her athleticism all of the time and I thought that was on full display tonight. She is going have a special season."

Savannah Seemans also reached double-digit kills on the night, finishing with 14 to go along with seven digs.

In just her second game as a Blue Hen, Kirah Johnson went for seven kills and a game-high six blocks, while Katie Turner got it done defensively with a team-best 21 digs. Ezgi Basaranlar logged 49 assists as the primary setter and added eight digs and five blocks to her stat line.

SET ONE
The first set was all Delaware as the Blue Hens quickly grabbed an 11-6 advantage before outscoring the Owls, 14-2 to claim the win. Mason was the key catalyst for the Delaware attack, tallying seven kills on 10 attempts.

SET TWO
With the score even at 12-12, Temple went on an 8-1 run to take a seven-point advantage. The Blue Hens countered with a 7-2 run to trim the deficit to two, 22-20, but Temple managed to close things out for the set win.

SET THREE
The third set was another tight one as both sides continuously traded points. Despite trailing 12-9, the Blue Hens scored six unanswered to take the lead. Delaware held onto the slim advantage and Mason's seventh kill of the set secured the 25-22 victory.

SET FOUR
The Blue Hens used a bevy of runs in order to secure the win in the fourth set. Delaware got out to an early lead after a 7-2 run that was capped by a Johnson kill put the Blue Hens up by two, 8-6. After trading points, Delaware scored seven unanswered to build a seven-point advantage, 17-10. That lead proved to be enough as Delaware outscored Temple the rest of the way to pick up the 25-15 set win.

UP NEXT
Delaware will travel to Villanova, Pa., tomorrow for a meeting with Villanova slated for 6 p.m.