PHILADELPHIA – The Towson University volleyball team earned a big non-conference road victory on Saturday, coming back to defeat Temple 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-18) in Philadelphia.
 
Towson (2-0) earns a victory over a Temple (6-4) team that is predicted to finish third in the American Athletic Conference and increases its regular season winning streak to 22.
 
Key Stats:

• Freshman Nina Cajic notched a double-double, hitting .324 with 15 kills, 21 digs and five blocks.  Emily Jarome tallied up 13 kills, four digs and three blocks while Lydia Wiers finished with 11 kills and seven blocks.
• Towson hit .279 as a team, including .344 in set three and .607 in the final game, and had 15 team blocks.  Four Tigers had at least five blocks with a fifth having three.
• The Tigers held Temple to a .178 hitting percentage, including .111 in set two and .000 in set three.
• For Temple, Gem Grimshaw had a double-double on 14 kills and 13 digs.  Kayla Spells hit .571 with 12 kills and three blocks.

Postgame Quote:
--Towson head coach Don Metil: "This win against Temple was a total team effort!  Not because everyone saw minutes on the floor, but because everyone was engaged and brought needed energy after we dropped set one.
 
"We served tougher as the match progressed, and the work the girls put into our practice gym, improving their blocking eye work, really paid off.  Now we must focus our attention to CAA play and prepare to battle the Blue Hens."
 
How It Happened:

• Set 1: A 3-0 run, off a Fay Bakodimou kill, Emily Jarome service ace and Nina Cajic kill, gave Towson an early 8-4 advantage.  Temple countered with six of the next eight points, capped by two Katerina Papazoglou kills, to tie the set.  Towson got back the lead off a kill and block from Lydia Wiers and held the advantage for a while, going back-and-forth with Temple.  At 16-14, Temple got the next four to lead by two as Towson called a timeout.  Bakodimou stopped the run with a kill, but Temple broke away, using three kills from Kayla Spells en route to a 25-20 set victory.
• Set 2: At 5-5, the Owls got three straight points to lead 8-5.  Towson chipped away starting with a Aayinde Smith and Cajic block assist, getting to within one a couple of times.  Then at 11-9 Temple, Towson surged ahead with a 5-0 sprint, off two kills, two blocks and an ace, to go up 14-11.  Towson got another big run, this 6-0, including a Kristin Spengler ace and two more blocks, to stand ahead 22-14.  Temple got some points back but Towson's lead would hold, ending the set on a Cajic kill and winning 25-20 to even the match.
• Set 3: Towson's strong play in the front row continued to pay dividends as a 4-0 run, including a kill and block from Cajic, made it 7-3 early.  Temple pulled back to within two at 9-7, then Towson pushed back with a block and two kills for a 12-7 advantage.  After a Temple point, kills from Bakodimou and Spengler sparked a 5-0 run and put the Tigers ahead 17-8.  Towson kept full control, using a couple of late blocks from Wiers to win 25-15.  Towson led 2-1 in the match.
• Set 4: The teams went back-and-forth in the early going.  With the score 6-5 Towson, the Tigers earned six of the next seven points, including two Bakodimou aces, to take a 12-6 lead.  Towson kept going to Jarome to keep the lead strong with kills.  Temple got back to within four at 18-14.  Four straight kills, including three from Wiers, rebuilt the Towson advantage to eight at 22-14.  The Tigers finished the Owls with a late block and two more kills to win 25-18 and take the match in four.

Inside the Numbers:

• Lydia Wiers earned a new career-high in blocks with eight, passing her previous high of seven in two different matches last year.
• Nina Cajic earned a new career-high in kills in her young collegiate career, surpassing the 12 she had vs. Stony Brook last weekend, and in digs, with six digs last weekend.  It is the first collegiate double-double in her career.
• Aayinde Smith has new career-highs in kills and blocks, as does Fay Bakodimou in digs.
• This is Towson's first-ever victory over an AAC opponent.  The Tigers have won the last two matches against Temple, the previous meeting coming in 2005.

Next Game:
Next weekend, Towson begins CAA play against Delaware.  The first match will be on Friday, Mar. 5 at 6 p.m. in Newark with the return match in Towson being on Sunday, Mar. 7 at 1 p.m.
 
- TowsonTigers.com –