Sept. 3, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Playing against some of the nation's top competition, the UCF volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday, earning a third-place finish at the Diet Coke Classic at the Sports Pavilion on the University of Minnesota campus. After dropping an afternoon match to sixth-ranked Minnesota, the Golden Knights (1-4) rebounded to top North Dakota State in three games (30-22, 30-28, 30-23) in the tournament consolation match.
Junior outside hitter Maina Heming tallied a double-double in the UCF victory, finishing with 12 kills and 12 digs. Against the Bison, sophomore setter Kim Clonan had a season-high 41 assists and senior libero Katie Kohnen posted a match-best 21 digs.
"Katie Kohnen was spectacular with 21 digs (versus NDSU)," said Colado. "Kim (Clonan) did a real good job and had excellent set distribution."
Clonan recorded 16 assists as the Golden Knights lost the afternoon match to Minnesota, 3-0 (30-13, 30-21, 30-26) in front of 3,692 fans. Heming led UCF with 10 kills.
"We were a little shaky in the first game against Minnesota, but we moved the ball well in games two and three," said UCF head coach Meg Colado. "Then we were able to carry that over versus North Dakota State, where we played very well offensively and had a balanced effort."
In the nightcap versus NDSU, Heming was one of four Golden Knights to finish with double-digits in kills. Junior middle blocker Jana Mitchell, sophomore outside hitter Schanell Neiderworder and freshman middle blocker Jenny Heppert each totaled 10 kills.
Emily Luensmann paced the Bison with 32 assists and Kari Fagnan added 18 digs. As a team, NDSU hit .130 compared to .290 for UCF.
Versus the host Golden Gophers, freshman libero Lindsay Randazzo had 13 digs. No Minnesota player recorded more than eight kills, but the team registered a .261 attack percentage and limited UCF to a -.017 hitting percentage. Rachel Hartmann and Kelly Bowman posted 21 and 19 assists, respectively, for the Golden Gophers.
For her efforts at the event, Kohnen was named to the all-tournament team.
UCF was playing its fourth and fifth consecutive matches away from home to start the season. The squad does not make its home debut until Sept. 20 - its eighth contest of the year.
The Golden Knights return to action on Sept. 9, traveling to local foe Bethune-Cookman. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.