ORLANDO- The UCF volleyball team came up short against No. 12 BYU on Thursday night as the Cougars defeated the Knights 3-0 (19-25, 21-25, 18-25) in The Venue .
BYU (21-5, 10-4) won the statistical match with 40 kills, 13 service aces and 41 digs while the Knights (17-8, 8-6) tallied seven blocks and 40 digs. Avah Armour recorded a team-high seven kills along with two service aces. Abby Hansen and Lauren Clark each contributed six kills on the night.
The visiting Cougars got off to a quick start, building a 7-3 lead in the first set. The Knights chipped away at the lead but could not connect points together. The Knights were within two points as Armour came through with a service ace to bring UCF within arm’s reach of the lead,13-11. BYU responded with a 6-0 scoring run to build its lead 19-11. After back-to-back kills by Abby Schomer and Armour, the Cougars held on to take the first set, 25-19.
The Black and Gold got off to a hot 4-1 start in the second frame, Armour ignited the run with a kill to start the set off. BYU responded back to tie the set at nine and then take the lead to go up 11-9. UCF took a timeout at 18-14 and came out on a quick 3-0 run capped off by a service ace from Katelyn Grimes. BYU ended the set on an ace to win, 25-21.
BYU led off the third set with three straight points but the Knights fought back to tie the score at 5-5. The Cougars answered back with a 4-0 spurt as they continued to hold onto the lead for the remainder of the set to take the match win, 25-18. BYU held the Knights to just a .069 clip as the Cougars hit .258 in the third set.
The Black and Gold will get a chance to respond against No. 12 BYU with another matchup on Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.