MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Hannah Schneggenburger recorded eight kills, but it wasn't enough as Campbell fell to Temple, 3-0 (25-18, 25-9, 25-16), in the opening round of the Women's National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) on Tuesday evening inside WVU Coliseum.
"I thought our team performed admirably," said head coach
Greg Goral. "We were a little inconsistent, but it was a new experience. We had to get through the jitters in order to get into a little bit of a rhythm. Temple is really strong offensively, they're really strong on the block, so they didn't give us a whole lot of time to find our groove both offensively and defensively."
The Camels finished the 2017 season with a 20-12 overall record, the first 20-win season since 1998. CU notched a 10-6 ledger in conference play, which matched a program record in league wins.
"In game three,
Madee Miner ran the offensive great.
Hannah Schneggenburger had a number of quality kills, so it's good to see a couple of our freshmen play at an elite level, which is what we want going in to next season," said Goral.
Schneggenburger led the team with eight kills in the match, closely followed by
Allena Heath's five and
Madison Linxwiler's four.
Kayla Schanback closed out her collegiate career with 14 digs, while
Summer Schuitema added 12 assists and seven digs.
The Owls' attacking front was led by Iva Deak, who tallied 10 kills on the evening, including five in the third set. Katerina Papazoglou and Izzy Rapacz both recorded seven kills for Temple. Kyra Coundourides notched 30 assists for the Owls, while Mia Heirakuji led the team with 13 assists.
Temple got off to a 12-4 start in the opening set, but the Camels fought back by going on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to three points at 13-10. The Owls then won six of the next eight points to take a seven point advantage at 19-12 in the later part of the set. An ace by Averi Salvador sealed the set for the Owls, 25-18.
Campbell kept it close at 3-3 during the early part of the second set, but Temple went on a 5-0 run to jump out to a commanding 8-3 lead. The Owls won nine consecutive points to extend the lead to 20-8 off of the serve of Coundourides. CU had two straight attacking errors to close out the set at 25-9.
TU got off to a 5-0 lead in the game's final set off of the serve of Heirakuji. Schneggenburger recorded two kills and Linxwiler posted one to bring the Camels within four points at 9-5.
After facing a seven point deficit at 13-6, the Fighting Camels went on a 4-1 run to close the gap to 14-10 midway through the third set. However, the Camels could not overcome the deficit, as Temple won the final set 25-16.
Temple advances to the second round of the NIVC and will face the winner of tonight's match between West Virginia and Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Morgantown.
"I know going forward that they won't want the season to end any other way but in a postseason tournament. It'll help drive out team going forward. I'm very proud of everything we did this year. This was icing on the cake for a team that is continuing to push our program forward," said Goral.
