The GW volleyball team committed 29 attack errors for a .000 attack percentage, yielding a 3-0 loss to Temple Tuesday night in Philadelphia. The loss snapped GW’s four-game winning streak and dropped the Colonials from first to fourth place in Atlantic 10 standings. Both teams entered the game owning a share of first place. The Owls remains atop the A-10.

Temple (11-3, 4-1) seems to be a thorn in the side for the Colonials (4-7, 3-1) after defeating GW for the sixth-straight time. GW’s last beat the Owls in 1998. Temple has beaten GW in 11 of the team’s past 12 meetings.

Despite a poor history, the Colonials remained optimistic heading into the match.

“I always expect to win,” head coach Jojit Coronel said. “There is always that hesitation that they’ve beaten us so many times, but I always knew we can beat them on paper. It’s up to the girls to execute.”

The Colonials did not execute, and Temple took the match in three straight games, 30-27, 30-19 and 30-17.

“We didn’t play up to our potential last night in all areas,” Coronel said. “They’re good, but far from great.”

In the first match, Temple’s serving errors allowed GW to remain close, but the Colonials did not capitalize enough on the errors to grab a victory. Temple had 14 service errors on the day.

“We were fortunate the score was that close,” Coronel said. “Temple made a lot of errors, and unfortunately we didn’t take advantage.”

GW’s passing fell apart in the last two games, but this time there weren’t enough Temple errors to keep the women close.

Coronel compared his team’s passing to “a sprinkler head, going all over the place.”

Temple posted an impressive 51 kills out of 120 attacks for a .300 attack percentage on the day. While the Owl offense put up impressive numbers, Colonials errors contributed to the loss. Although GW had 29 kills, 29 attack errors canceled out the effort.

“A lot of it was confidence,” Coronel said. “Temple threw in a few jump serves which kept us off balance and disrupted our confidence.”

Sarah Hokom had GW’s only service ace. Temple combined for four.

Ruth Lazzari continued to lead the Colonials with nine kills and nine digs. Fellow sophomore Hokom had seven kills and a team-high 13 digs.

Freshman Britta Stroman, who was named Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week, added six kills.

Temple, fielding an international squad with starters from China, Romania, Canada and Albania, was lead by Yamit Haba’s 13 kills and 11 digs.

Coronel said the Colonials will use this loss to help them become tougher competitors in the A-10.

“It was an eye opening thing. We learned in order to compete in this league we can’t let the little things slide, because an athletic team like Temple will take advantage,” Coronel said.

The Colonials head to Rhode Island for their fifth straight road match Friday at 7 p.m. and continue their northeast trip with a match at Massachusetts on Saturday.

GW returns home Oct. 12 to play Xavier.