TEMPLE UNIVERSITY VOLLEYBALL 2015 MATCH NOTES

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1 TEMPLE AT USF (9/25) AT UCF (9/27) TEMPLE UNIVERSITY VOLLEYBALL 2015 MATCH NOTES Lauren Ferrett, Associate Director for Athletic Communications O: C: Website: TOURNAMENT INFORMATION Date/Time...September 25-7:00 p.m. Site...The Corral (Tampa, Fla.) Live Stats...gousfbulls.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml Live Video...gousfbulls.com/ Series vs. USF...USF leads 10-2 Streak...W2 Date/Time...September 27-1:00 p.m. Site...The Venue at UCF (Orlando, Fla.) Live Video...ucfknights.com/ Series vs. UCF...UCF leads, 4-3 Streak...W1 Twitter SCHEDULE Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West Temple Invitational Fri., Aug. 28 #13 OREGON L, 0-3 Sat., Aug. 29 NAVY W, 3-0 Sat., Aug. 29 ST. JOHN'S W, 3-0 Seton Hall Invitational Fri., Sep. 4 vs Hofstra W, 3-1 Sat., Sep. 5 vs Notre Dame W, 3-1 Sat., Sep. 5 at Seton Hall L, 3-1 Hilton Penns Landing Cherry & White Challenge Fri., Sep. 11 MONTANA W, 3-0 Sat., Sep. 12 DUQUESNE W, 3-2 Sat., Sep. 12 BINGHAMTON W, 3-0 Big 5 Tournament (Co-hosted by Temple) Fri., Sep. 18 vs. La Salle W, 3-0 Sat., Sep. 19 PENN W, 3-0 Sat., Sep. 19 VILLANOVA L, 3-1 American Athletic Conference Fri., Sep. 25 at USF :00 p.m. Sun., Sep. 27 at UCF :00 p.m. Fri., Oct. 2 MEMPHIS :00 p.m. Sun., Oct. 4 CINCINNATI :00 p.m. Fri., Oct. 9 at SMU :00 p.m. Sun., Oct. 11 at Tulsa :30 p.m. Wed., Oct. 14 at UConn :00 p.m. Sun., Oct. 18 ECU :00 p.m. Fri., Oct. 23 HOUSTON :00 p.m. Sun., Oct. 25 TULANE :00 p.m. Fri., Oct. 30 at Cincinnati :00 p.m. Sun., Nov. 1 at Memphis :00 p.m. Fri., Nov. 6 at Tulane :00 p.m. Sun., Nov. 8 at Houston :00 p.m. Fri., Nov. 13 UCF :00 p.m. Sun., Nov. 15 USF :00 p.m. Wed., Nov. 18 UCONN :00 p.m. Fri., Nov. 20 TULSA :00 p.m. Sun., Nov. 22 SMU :00 p.m. Fri., Nov. 27 at ECU :00 p.m. Home matches in CAPS; All times Eastern * - American Athletic Conference matches MATCHUP TEMPLE Owls 9-3, 0-0 American Bakeer Ganesharatnam/ 5th Yr. Overall Record: at School: Same L, 3-1 vs.villanova 9/19/2015 TEMPLE HEADLINES USF Bulls 3-9, 0-0 American Courtney Draper / 4th Yr. Overall Record: at School: W, 3-0 vs. FAMU 9/20/2015 UCF Knights 6-6, 0-0 American Todd Dagenais / 8th Yr. Overall Record: at School: Same L, 3-1 vs. Miami 9/18/2015 The Owls are 9-3 overall this season with two of their losses (#13 Oregon, Seton Hall) coming against 2014 NCAA participants. Head Coach Bakeer Ganes is now in his fifth year at the helm of the program, with an overall record of Temple finished second at last weekend s Philadelphia Big 5 Tournament. The Owls went 2-1, topping La Salle and Penn, 3-0, before falling to Villanova, 3-1. Against La Salle on Friday, Temple posted a 3-0 sweep at the Palestra. The Owls hit.288 as a team, holding the Explorers to just a.024 attack, taking the match, 25-7, 25-20, Temple also out-blocked La Salle, 12-3, recording a season-high effort. Against Penn on Saturday, the Owls posted their second-straight 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-18, 25-17). Temple s net-minders had another big match, combining for 10 team blocks, en route to holding the Quakers to just a.049 attack. Against Villanova, Temple suffered a 3-1 defeat. The Owls took the first set, 25-20, before falling 25-23, 25-23, and 25-21, in the final three. In a tightly contested match that saw each set decided by five or less points, Villanova finished with a.210 attack, while Temple was right there, at.209. The Owls out-dug the Wildcats, 66-59, but Villanova held a slight edge in team blocks, Junior Kirsten Overton and sophomore were named to the Big 5 All-Tournament team. Overton led all Big 5 players with a.581 hitting percentage and 18 total blocks. Asci led all players in the tournament with 44 total kills. Overton was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday. Temple was picked to finish third in the 2015 Preseason American Athletic Conference Coaches Poll, out of the 11 teams in the league this year. The Owls also nabbed one firstplace vote. The Owls captured the championship at the Hilton Penn s Landing Cherry & White Challenge. Temple went 3-0 at the event, topping Montana (3-0), Duquesne (3-2), and Binghamton (3-0). Temple finished as runner-up in their first two tournaments (Temple Invitational, Seton Hall Invitational), going 2-1 at each. Temple had the most representation on the 2015 Preseason All-American Athletic Conference team, with four honorees. Senior Sandra Sydlik, juniors Kirsten Overton and Tyler Davis, and sophomore Dara Peric all received preseason nods. All four players were named to the All-Conference team at the end of last season. In addition to returning four All-Conference honorees, Sydlik is the reigning American Setter of the Year, while Peric is the returning American Freshman of the Year TEMPLE UNIVERSITY VOLLEYBALL

2 PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Bakeer Ganesharatnam...bah-KEER GAH-nuh-SUH-rot-num Akiko Hatakeyama...a-KEY-ko Ha-tah-KAY-yama...E-rem Ahh-STEW Bevenour...Bev-A-nore Drachslin...DRAKES-lin Carla Guennewig...CAH-luh GUH-na-vig Grattan...GROT-in Heirakuji...Hay-ra-KOO-gee Halle McCullough...Hally McCULLA Rapacz...RAH-posh Peric...PEAR-itch PRE-SEASON POLL AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON COACHES POLL Rank School Points 1. UCF 94 (7) 2. SMU 91 (3) 3. Temple 84 (1) 4. Tulsa Cincinnati Memphis USF UConn 41 T-9. East Carolina 22 T-9. Tulane Houston 21 First-place votes in (parentheses) PROGRAM INFORMATION ALL-TIME Overall record: ( ) NCAA Appearances: 4 (1997, 1998, 1999, 2002) COACHING STAFF Head Coach...Bakeer Ganesharatnam Phone templevb@temple.edu Career Record/Years (5th yr.) Record at TU/Years...Same Assistant Head Coach...Akiko Hatakeyama ...akiko.h@temple.edu Assistant Coach...Ren Cefra ...renwick.cefra@temple.edu Dir. of Operations...Ed Lowery ...templevb@temple.edu THE TEAM Letterwinners Returning/Lost...13/3 Starters Returning/Lost libero/ Overall Record American Record American Finish...T-2nd Postseason...None TEMPLE UNIVERSITY Founded Enrollment...39,000 Nickname...Owls School Colors...Cherry and White Affiliation...NCAA Division I Conference...American Athletic President:...Neil D. Theobald Director of Athletics...Dr. Patrick Kraft Athletic Dept. Phone Ticket Office Phone University Website...temple.edu Athletics Website...owlsports.com ROSTER No. Name Yr. Pos. Ht. Hometown High School 1 So. OH 5-11 Ankara, Turkey Collage Ayseabla/UNC Charlotte 2 Janine Simmons So. MB 6-1 Centreville, Va. Centreville 3 Mia Heirakuji Fr. DS/L 5-5 Kailua, Hawaii Kamehameha 4 Sandra Sydlik Sr. S 5-10 Berlin, Germany Schadow Gymnasium 5 Dara Peric So. OH 6-0 Belgrade, Serbia HS of Tourism 6 Kayla Yingling Sr. DS/L 5-0 Spring Grove, Pa. Spring Grove/Buffalo 7 Alyssa Drachslin Sr. DS/L 5-6 Riverside, Calif. Riverside Poly 8 Carla Guennewig Fr. MB 6-2 Muenster, Germany Pascal Gymnasium Muenster 9 Malia Smith So. DS/L 5-7 Gardena, Calif. Notre Dame Academy 10 Hannah Vandegrift Fr. S 6-0 Leesburg, Va. Loudoun County 11 Kirsten Overton Jr. MB 6-1 Royersford, Pa. Spring-Ford 12 Caroline Grattan Jr. OH/RS 6-1 Pittsburgh, Pa. Mt. Lebanon 13 Geena Bevenour So. S/DS 5-5 Wayne, Pa. Pope John Paul II 14 Halle McCullough Sr. MB/RS 6-3 Colorado Springs, Colo. Pine Creek/Gonzaga 15 Tyler Davis Jr. OH/RS 6-0 Palm Desert, Calif. Xavier College Prep 16 Izzy Rapacz So. OH/RS 6-2 Glenview, Ill. Glenbrook South Head Coach: Bakeer Ganesharatnam (Queens College 05) 5th year Assistant Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator: Akiko Hatakeyama (Temple 99) 4th year Assistant Coach: Ren Cefra (Hawai'i-West Oahu 13) 1st year Director of Operations: Ed Lowery (Lock Haven 13) 1st year ALPHABETICAL ROSTER 1...So. OH Geena Bevenour...So. DS Tyler Davis...Jr. OH/RS Alyssa Drachslin...Sr. DS/L Caroline Grattan...Jr. OH/RS Carla Guennewig...Fr. MB Mia Heirakuji...Fr. DS/L Halle McCullough...Sr. MB/RS Kirsten Overton...Jr. MB Dara Peric...So. OH Izzy Rapacz...So. OH/RS Janine Simmons...So. MB Malia Smith...So. DS/L Sandra Sydlik...Sr. S Hannah Vandegrift...Fr. S Kayla Yingling...Sr. DS/L 5-0 OWLS BY CLASS Freshmen (3): #3 Heirakuji, #8 Guennewig, #10 Vandegiift Sophomores (6): #1 Asci, #2 Simmons, #5 Peric, #9 Smith, #13 Bevenour, #16 Rapacz Juniors (3): #11 Overton, #12 Grattan, #15 Davis Seniors (4): #4 Sydlik, #6 Yingling, #7 Drachslin, #14 McCullough AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE OWLS BY POSITION DS/Liberos (5): #3 Heirakuji, #6 Yingling, #7 Drachlin, #9 Smith, #13 Bevenour Setters (2): #4 Sydlik, #10 Vendegrift Outside Hitters (5): #1 Asci, #5 Peric, #12 Grattan, #15 Davis, #16 Rapacz Right Sides (4): #12 Grattan, #14 McCullough, #15 Davis, #16 Rapacz Middle Blockers (4): #2 Simmons, #8 Guennewig, #11 Overton, #14 McCullough OWLS BY LOCATION USA (12) Pennsylvania (4): #6 Yingling, #11 Overton, #12 Grattan, #13 Bevenour California (3): #7 Drachslin, #9 Smith, #15 Davis Virginia (2): #2 Simmons, #10 Vandegrift Colorado (1): #14 McCullough Illinois (1): #16 Rapacz International (4) Germany (2): #4 Sydlik, #8 Guennewig Turkey (1): #1 Asci Serbia (1): #5 Peric AMERICAN WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS (Sept. 21) Offensive POTW: Avery Acker Sr. S SMU Defensive POTW: Morgan Heise Jr. L SMU Honor Roll: Kia Bright Jr. OH UCF Jordan Thompson Fr. RS/OH Cincinnati Olivia O'Dell Sr. L/DS Houston Kirsten Overton Jr. MB Temple Tea Juric Jr. OH Tulane

3 THE WEEKEND Temple heads to Tampa on Friday to kickoff the road trip against USF at 7:00 p.m. The Owls are back in action on Sunday at UCF at 1:00 p.m. : TEMPLE Temple finished second at the 2015 Philadelphia Big 5 Tournament. The Owls opened the event with sweeps over La Salle and Penn, before falling to tournament champion, Villanova. Temple hit.230 in the tournament, holding opponents to.116. Sophomore racked up 4.40 kills per set, while juniors Kirsten Overton (2.8 k/s) and Tyler Davis (2.30 k/s) also paced the Temple attack. Senior Sandra Sydlik dished out 10.7 assists per set, while classmate Alyssa Drachslin averaged a team-best 4.00 digs per set. BIG FIVE LEADERS Overton led all Big 5 players with a.581 hitting percentage and 18 total blocks. Asci had a tournament-high 44 kills, while sophomore Dara Peric tied for the lead with four aces. Dracshlin was also second in the tournament with 40 total digs. AMERICAN HONOR ROLL Overton earned her first American Athletic Conference honor of the season on Monday, being named to the conference s weekly honor roll. The junior racked up 28 kills with just three errors, hitting.581 in three matches. At the net, Overton tallied 18 total blocks, averaging 1.80 per set, en route to an All- Tournament selection. Against La Salle, she hit.750 with nine kills on 12 swings without an error, also picking up seven blocks. In a win over Penn, she had seven kills on 10 attempts and added six blocks. Closing out the weekend, Overton tallied 12 kills with two errors and had five blocks against Villanova. ALL-TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCES Following the action at the the Big 5 Tournament, six players were announced as All-Tournament selections. Temple was represented on the team by Overton and Asci. Overton earned her first tournament honors of the season, while Asci has been on All-Tournament teams for three of the four non-conference events for Temple. OWL LEADERS Asci has racked up a team-leading 4.29 kills per set, while Tyler Davis (3.03) and Izzy Rapacz (2.61) also bolster the Temple attack. Overton leads the team in hitting TOURNAMENT QUICK HITS percentage, attacking at a.442 clip. Sydlik runs the offense, dishing out 11.3 assists per set. Defensively, Alyssa Drachslin has racked up 199 total digs, averaging 4.85 per set. Overton leads the Owl blockers, with 46 total, while Rapacz has racked up 39 and sophomore Janine Simmons has 37, including a team-leading six solo. NATIONALLY-RANKED Temple appears in the top-20 in three national stat categories this week. The Owls are 11th in the nation hitting percentage, and also lead The American, with a.289 clip. Temple also ranks 18th in the nation in kills per set (14.34) and 19th in assists per set (13.34), leading the American in both categories. Individually, Overton ranks 11th in the nation and first in the conference in hitting percentage (.442). Sydlik 16th nationally in assists per set (11.34), good for second in the conference. Elsewhere, Asci is 23th in Division I with 4.29 kills per set and Drachslin is 44th in digs per set with Both rank second in the American in those categories. SCOUTING USF USF is 3-9 overall, but is coming off a 3-0 sweep over FAMU, which broke a ninematch losing streak. As a team, USF is hitting.196, while opponents hit.263 against the Bulls. Individually, Dakota Hampton leads USF with 3.03 kills per set, while Denishe Belcher has added 2.91 per set. Joli Holland hits a team-high.338 from the middle, while Alex Mendoza (4.36 a/s) and Natalia Soares (4.15 a/s) share setting duties. Wylie Devlin heads the Bulls defense, averaging 4.73 digs per frame. Hampton also contributes on defense with 3.18 digs per set. At the net, Holland has a teambest 26 total blocks. SCOUTING UCF UCF is 6-6 on the season, falling in five out of their last six matches. The Knights are the defending American Athletic Conference Champions and earned a bid to the 2014 NCAA Tournament after their third-straight 20-win season last year. Returning All-Conference honorees, Kia Bright and Jale Hervey lead the Knight attack. Hervey has racked up 4.57 kills per set, while Bright has averaged Taylor Wickey leads the team with a.466 hitting percentage, while Miranda Watkins (6.02 a/s) and Dana Faught (5.57 a/s) split setting responsibilities. Defensively, Jordan Pingel has averaged 4.72 digs per set to lead the Knights, while Bright has contributed 3.11 per frame. Wickey leads the UCF block with 37 total on the season, while Bright has a team-high 10 solo blocks. OWLS AGAINST THE FIELD Temple is 2-10 all-time against USF, but won both meetings in UCF also owns the all-time series against Temple, but by a slim, 4-3, margin. The Owls and the Knights split the season series last year, with each team winning their home contest. NEXT UP Temple will host Memphis and Cincinnati in their first home American Athletic Conference series. The Owls will welcome the Tigers to McGonigle Hall next Friday at 7:00 p.m. and will then host the Bearcats on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. HONORS & AWARDS Temple Invitational All-Tournament Sandra Sydlik Seton Hall All-Tournament Tyler Davis Cherry & White Challenge All-Tournament MVP - Izzy Rapacz Sandra Sydlik Kayla Yingling Philadelphia Big 5 All-Tournament Kirsten Overton

4 BAKEER GANESHARATNAM Bakeer Ganes 5th Season - Queens 05 Career Record: In four years on North Broad Street, Bakeer Ganesharatnam has turned Temple volleyball into a high-level program at the top of the American Athletic Conference. Over Ganesharatnam's tenure, Temple has continually surpassed expectations and has now proven itself as a contender in a strong conference. Most recently, Ganesharatnam led Temple to a record-setting 2014 season. The Owls finished 24-8 overall, tying for second place in the American Athletic Conference, and compiling the program's best record in 12 years. The Owls had a number of big wins in 2014, including knocking off conference champion and NCAA team, UCF. Temple defeated every team in the American Athletic Conference at least once, while running up a 10-match win streak in the heart of conference play. Individually, the 2014 Owls exceeded expectations. Temple earned a conference and program record five All-Conference sections. Junior Sandra Sydlik was named to the first team, while sophomore Tyler Davis, senior Jennifer Iacobini sophomore Kirsten Overton, and freshman Dara Peric earned second-team honors. Temple also boasted the American Athletic Conference Setter of the Year in Sydlik and the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in Peric. Sydlik later went on to earn the program's first All- Region mention since In 2013, Temple finished at overall to mark its second-straight season with a winning percentage of.600 or better. After being picked to finish seventh in the newly-created American Athletic Conference, the Owls bettered that by one and placed sixth with a record of 9-9. Ganesharatnam's senior right side hitter, Gabriella Matautia, was a standout all season long and earned American Athletic Conference First Team honors. Ganesharatnam s 2012 squad finished at overall and advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament after not earning a spot in the tournament since The improvement from an 8-20 season in 2011 to a season in 2012 ranked as the seventh-best differential among all NCAA Division I volleyball teams. Perhaps most impressive was the similarity in personnel between the teams of 2011 and 2012, as five of seven starters returned. Chelsea Tupuola was named the A-10 Libero of the Year, while Matautia earned A-10 First Team honors. The team was largely underestimated prior to the season, getting picked to finish 11th of 12 teams in the conference. The Owls proved that placement to be undeserved, as they went on to finish fifth in the league. Among other highlights in a strong season, the Owls recorded digs per set to rank 15th among all NCAA Division I teams, and Temple won its first-ever Big 5 Tournament in the event's four-year history, defeating Penn and La Salle and taking Villanova to five sets. The success of 2012 followed a more moderate but important step in Ganesharatnam s first season. The 2011 Owls finished at 8-20 overall, a marked improvement over the season before his arrival. The team served up 78 aces in A-10 matches to lead all teams, and then-sophomore Elyse Burkert Proving that he is as committed to his student-athletes' success in the classroom as he is to their success on the court, the team's gradepoint-average has improved significantly in the years since Ganesharatnam s arrival. In the fall of 2010, the semester GPA for the team was Ganesharatnam took over the reins in the spring of 2011, and by the end of his first fall semester, the team posted a GPA of During the second season of competition under Ganes, the Owls posted a GPA of 3.32, and in the spring of 2013 it jumped all the way up to 3.45, showing more than a four-tenths' improvement in two years. In 2014, the Owls had the highest GPA of any American Athletic Conference squad, recording a Prior to his arrival at Temple in January, 2011, Ganesharatnam spent five years as an assistant coach at West Virginia University. He served for three seasons as a full-time assistant with the Mountaineers after two prior years as a graduate assistant coach. As an assistant, Ganesharatnam served as the recruiting coordinator and worked with the players on skill development, as well as dealt with scheduling responsibilities. One year after Ganesharatnam s transition to full-time assistant, the 2009 Mountaineers finished with their best overall record in five years, 17-13, and won six Big East games which ranked as the most since In 2010 the team finished and took the title at its own WVU Classic early in the season with a perfect 4-0 record. Before his stint at WVU, Ganesharatnam served as an assistant coach at Cedar Valley College in Grand Prairie, Texas, for one season. He helped the Suns reach their co-conference championship in the season. His duties included assisting the head coach with all aspects of the program, including recruiting, practice and competition preparation, summer camps and travel arrangements, as well as alumni outreach and fundraising. In addition to his duties as an assistant coach at CVC, Ganesharatnam also served as the head coach of the 17 s ACE Elite Team at Arlington Courts in Dallas, Texas. Ganesharatnam was not a stranger to Temple when he arrived, having worked summer camps in 2005 and 2006 with former head coach Bob Bertucci. He completed his bachelor s degree in political science with minors in economics and German from Queens College in He played four years of volleyball there while pursuing his degree. While having a standout career at Queens, he was also a four-year letterwinner and helped the Knights to two conference championships. Ganesharatnam was born in Sri Lanka, but moved to Germany when he was five. He has been playing volleyball since he was nine. In Germany, he competed on a very successful club team from 1990 to 2000, VFL Sindelfingen, winning the regional championship and the state championship many times. Ganesharatnam and his team also made numerous appearances at the national championship. Ganesharatnam received his master s degree in athletic coaching education in 2007 from WVU.

5 2015 Temple Volleyball Temple University Combined Team Statistics (as of Sep 23, 2015) All matches RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL ALL GAMES CONFERENCE NON-CONFERENCE Attack Set Serve Dig Blocking ## Player sp k k/s e ta pct a a/s sa se sa/s re dig dig/s bs ba total blk/s be bhe points 1 ASCI, Irem DAVIS, Tyler RAPACZ, Izzy OVERTON, Kirsten SIMMONS, Janine GRATTAN, Carolin MCCULLOUGH, H SYDLIK, Sandra PERIC, Dara DRACHSLIN, Alyss VANDEGRIFT, Ha YINGLING, Kayla SMITH, Malia HEIRAKUJI, Mia TEAM TEMPLE UNIVERS Opponents Team Statistics TU OPP ATTACK K ills E r r o r s Total Attacks Attack Pct K ills / S e t SET A s s is t s A s s is t s / S e t SERVE A c e s E r r o r s A c e s / S e t SERVE RECEPTIO E r r o r s E r r o r s / S e t DEFENSE D ig s D ig s / S e t BLOCKING Block Solo Block Assist Total Blocks B lo c k s / S e t Block Errors Ball handling errors 6 15 ATTENDANCE T o t a l Dates/Avg Per Da 8/642 1/508 Neutral site #/Avg 3/114 Current win streak 0 - Home win streak 0 - Date Opponent Score Score by set Att. Aug 28 #13 OREGON L ,21-25, Aug 29 NAVY ,25-14, Aug 29 ST. JOHN'S ,25-10, Sep 04 vs Hofstra ,25-22,22-25, Sep 05 vs Notre Dame ,18-25,25-15, Sep 05 at Seton Hall L ,22-25, Sep 11 MONTANA ,25-23, Sep 12 DUQUESNE ,13-25,25-14,21-25,1 377 Sep 12 BINGHAMTON ,25-10, Sep 18 vs La Salle ,25-20, Sep 19 PENN ,25-18, Sep 19 VILLANOVA L ,23-25,23-25, Record in 3-set matches: 6-2 Record in 4-set matches: 2-1 Record in 5-set matches: 1-0