George Washington University

Sept. 28, 2007

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WASHINGTON, DC -- The GW volleyball team accomplished something Friday night it had not done in nearly nine years, defeat Temple in a volleyball match. Before the largest home crowd of the season on Parents/Alumni Weekend, the Colonials prevailed by the scores 30-23, 30-24, 28-30, 29-31, 15-13 in a two-hour, 26-minute marathon. The match featured 38 ties and 17 lead changes. Friday's win snapped an 18-match losing streak to the Owls dating back to Nov. 14, 1998.

Junior Liz Moult paced the Colonials with 16 points on 16 kills in 41 swings for a .293 hitting percentage. Freshman Katie Zulandt spiked her career-high 13 kills while committing just one error in 25 attempts for a .480 hitting percentage.

GW took charge early and won games one and two with relative ease. Following a 10-minute intermission that featured former GW coach Pat Sullivan addressing the alumni in attendance, the Colonials took the floor and immediately grabbed a 10-5 lead. From there, the momentum took a drastic swing in Temple's favor. The Owls put together an 11-2 run to turn the tables for a 16-12 lead. GW battled back for a 17-16 lead on a kill by Zulandt and the teams traded leads until a GW attack error gave Temple the lead for good at 24-23. The Owls won game three on one of Patricia Vernon's 12 kills on the night.

Game four featured more drama as the teams battled through 14 ties, the last coming at 29-29 before Temple scored two straight points after a GW blocking error and a Colonials attack error.

The decisive fifth game saw the Owls take the early 8-4 advantage on a service ace from Jacqueline Cowden. The Colonials would not go away, however, and rallied to tie the game at 11-11 on a kill by Moult. After an Owl attack error and a Temple timeout, GW's Abby Syverson killed a set from Jess Buche for a 13-11 lead and won the match on a Temple attack error.

For the match, Temple out-hit GW, .212 (70-28-198) to .191 (66-28-199) but the Colonials overcame an off-night by leading scorer Janine Brown to hold off the pesky Owls.

Temple's Yi Yun Zhang and Yue Liu combined for 55 of Temple's 70 kills while Cowden hit an astronomic .769 on 10 kills in 13 attempts with no errors. Sun Ying Ying recorded a match-high 25 digs.

GW next hosts La Salle on Sunday for a 2 p.m. A-10 Conference match at Smith Center.