Sept. 4, 2010
La Salle/Temple Box Score
La Salle/Penn Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - The Explorers wrapped up play in the Big 5 Invitational with losses to Temple, 3-0 (20-25, 25-27, 22-25), and Penn, 3-1 (25-17, 14-25, 12-25, 21-25).
Danielle DiMarco, who tallied 23 kills and 25 digs on the weekend, was named to the All-Tournament Team.
La Salle (2-6) held the Quakers, who made it into the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, to a -.033 attack percentage en route to winning the first set.
"We did pretty well," head coach Dave Stever said of the match against Penn. "Overall, we're satisfied with the way we play good teams."
La Salle capitalized on several Penn miscues to take an early lead that it would not relinquish.
The momentum swung in La Salle's favor after a big hit by Kelly Scanlon ended a long point and put the team up 11-8. La Salle would extend the lead to 16-8, a run during which Samantha Tulskie notched two service aces.
After dominating the second set, Penn jumped out to 6-2 lead in the third frame. The Explorers had the gap narrowed to two, but could not overtake the Quakers.
Late in the fourth set, La Salle pushed the score to 21-19 on an ace by Kourtney Clark. The Explorers starved off two match points, before Penn won the set and match on a service error.
Jacquelyn Mitrovich and Tulskie each added eight kills for La Salle. Clark notched 29 assists. For Penn, Julia Swanson and Amanda Pacheco both posted nine kills.
Earlier in the day, the Explorers dropped a close three sets to Temple (1-4) in the day's first match.
"This is the closest we've stayed with them," Stever said of the Temple match. "Fortunately we play them again in Atlantic 10 play. We're looking forward to seeing them at our place."
The Explorers opened the first set strong. La Salle took a 13-12 lead on a kill by Rachel Finkbeiner and a Lauren Noga kill extended it to 14-12. After an Owls' timeout, Temple went on a 4-0 run to re-take the lead.
A Tulskie kill put the Explorers within one at 21-20, but Temple would go on to win the last four points to take the first set.
Clark opened the second set with an ace for the Explorers. La Salle gained an early 7-3 advantage then fought off a Temple run to stay ahead 10-7.
Mitrovich notched a kill to make it 20-18 La Salle late in the game. Temple took a 24-22 lead, but then a kill by Noga and a Temple attack error tied the game back up. Temple would take the set, which featured 11 ties, on an ace by Ashley Carr.
The Owls controlled the beginning of the third set. La Salle rallied back to take a lead at 17-16 then again at 21-19, but Temple proved too much in the end.
Noga notched nine kills for La Salle, while Jessica Antosz did the same for Temple. Breanna Mazalewski and Tulskie led the Explorers' defense with 16 and 12 digs, respectively. Clark added 26 assists.
The next action for La Salle will be on Tuesday evening when the squad travels to Brooklyn Heights, NY to play St. Francis College.
