Hot Hitting Nights Send Temple, West Virginia to NIVC Second Round

  0 Wendy Mayer | November 28th, 2017 | College - Women's Indoor, News

NIVC First Round

  • Morgantown, West Virginia
  • Nov. 28

Temple and West Virginia each turned in hitting effort of better than .300 en route to opening round sweeps in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship on Tuesday.

The teams will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday with a spot in the Round of Eight on the line.

MATCH STATS

Key Stats: Temple dominated Campbell at the net with a .316 hitting efficiency and 13 blocks, including eight in Set 2, while holding the Camels to a -.044 hitting effort for the match. The Owls also bested Campbell 38-22 in kills and 6-3 in aces.

Key Players: Temple spread the ball around with five players notching five or more kills with junior middle blocker Iva Deak leading the way with 10 kills on an errorless 15 swings for a .667 hitting night. Freshman outside hitter Katerina Papazoglou (7), senior outside Izzy Rapacz (7), redshirt freshman outside Dana Westfield (6) and senior middle Janine Simmons (5) followed. Simmons put up a team-best six blocks, while Rapacz added five. Senior setter Kyra Coundourides served up three of the team’s six aces, while junior libero Mia Heirakuji led the team with 13 digs.

Freshman middle Hannah Schneggenburger paced Campbell with eight kills on a .385 hitting effort. Sophomore outside Allena Heath added five kills, but hit -.115 for the night. Only two hitters, Schneggenburger and junior middle Madison Linxwiler (.059), hit above .000 in the match. Senior libero Kayla Schanback managed a match-high 14 digs and two of the Camels’ three aces.

It Was Over When: After ending Set 2 on a 14-1 run, the Owls raced out to a 14-7 lead in the final stanza. Campbell rallied to within two at 15-13, but Temple held the Camels at bay, wrapping up the set with a 10-3 run. Three kills by Deak and a kill and a block by Westfield set up a final putaway by Carla Guennewig.

MATCH STATS

Key Stats: West Virginia outdid UMES .379 to .169 in hitting percentage, 53-25 in kills and 4-1 in aces, but were held without a block by the Hawks, which managed six stuffs. The Mountaineers hit .340 or better in all three sets and held UMES to a .036 effort in Set 3.

Key Players: Sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey registered a 17-kill, 17-dig double-double to lead the Mountaineers in both categories, while also serving up two of the team’s four aces. Sophomore right side Natania Levak posted 12 kills, while senior middle blocker Mia Swanegan and senior outside Morgan Montgomery added seven apiece. Senior libero Gianna Gotterba added 11 digs.

Junior outside Lucia Babic paced the Hawks with nine kills, while hitting at a .318 clip and adding six digs. Sophomore outside Iva Vujosevic was the only other player with more than three kills, tallying five putaways. Senior middle Mere Serea put up a team-best three blocks, while freshman libero Eva Valentova managed a team-high 10 digs.

It Was Over When: West Virginia broke away in Set 3 with a 4-0 run to stretch its lead to 14-7. UMES would get no closer than five the rest of the way. Levak turned in two kills and Caffrey added a kill and the final ace in a 5-0 run to close out the night.

“It’s the first time in 26 years since we’ve been in a postseason tournament,” West Virginia coach Reed Sunahara said. “I don’t think our players are familiar with this type of match, so they had some jitters tonight. We missed six serves, but we rebounded, and I thought they came out strong after that.”

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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