WASHINGTON - The American Volleyball Classic ended with a sweep for Temple against American, keeping the Owls undefeated at 6-0 for the year. The Eagles looked poised to turn things around near the end of the second set, but suffered a couple of bad breaks and lost 25-23. AU got a couple of strong performances from its outside hitters including eight kills and a hitting percentage of .316 for senior
Aleksandra Sochacka, named to the AVC All-Tournament Team.
MATCH NOTES
• Sochacka had a strong set to begin the day, posting five kills on seven attacks in the first set.
• It was back-and-forth much of the way in the early going, but after an 18-18 tie, Temple closed it out with a 7-1 run.
• The Eagles used a 5-1 run to make a comeback midway through the second set. AU stayed with the Owls the rest of the way and successfully used a challenge to get the score to 23-23, but a Temple kill and an error on the Eagles ended their chances of evening the match.
• Freshman
Asli Celikkol finished with seven kills while three other Eagles posted five kills apiece.
• Junior
Olivia Wassner posted another double-double with 10 digs to go with 25 assists, while senior
Kristen Largay led the Eagles with 16 digs.
QUOTED
• "This is just this growing period for us with five or six new players that are playing roles for us, and it's about how they're getting to know each other and how they work together. That's why these first few weeks are so important. We're playing really good teams and I hope it doesn't get too bad into our heads when we take a beating, and that's part of the risk of playing these kinds of teams. But we have some talented players and there's enough here for us to find some success. It's just going to be a matter of really working with one another well so we understand what roles we have and who can really accomplish the things we're trying to accomplish. It's a puzzle for us, but it's a fun one." - Head Coach
Barry Goldberg
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Siani Yamaguchi, Winthrop
Aleksandra Sochacka, American
Dahlias Bouyer, Ohio
Maggie Nedoma, Ohio
Gem Grimshaw, Temple
Tyler Lindgren, Temple
Averi Salvador, Temple - MVP
NEXT UP
• AU will play a single match at Norfolk State on Wednesday, Sept. 11, before heading to the Duke Invitational next weekend to face Duke, Georgia and Northwestern.
