Aug. 23, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - With over one hundred curious fans in the stands, the UCF volleyball team showed a preview of what it has in store for the 2008 season when it played its first Black and Gold Scrimmage at The Venue at UCF Saturday afternoon. The scrimmage served as the finale to the Knights' preseason training camp and the beginning of its quest to build a solid foundation for the season.
First-year head coach Todd Dagenais was impressed with what he saw from his young squad on the court.
"This scrimmage was really important for us to get through the nerves of actually competing in front of somebody other than ourselves," Dagenais said. "I thought there were a lot of people that stepped up and gave nice performances tonight. I thought, overall, that we were able to showcase a lot of the things that we have been working on - blocking, some of the serve receive and some of the attacking tactics and things like that. We are really making some strides and I think right now we are about three weeks ahead of schedule."
What also impressed the new head coach and his team was the crowd that came out for the event. Fans anxious to see what this young team is capable of got a sneak-peek at the team and its new facility.
"First of all, to have a crowd for a scrimmage, I thought that was kind of cool," Dagenais said. "I thought it was a lot of fun. We are really starting to break this new arena in. The next time that we get to do this kind of thing the crowd could be up to 2,000 people hanging from the rafters. That is going to be really fun."
Senior Stephanie Serna (San Antonio, Texas) also was excited to see people showing support for the Knights.
"I was really surprised at how many people showed up to support us tonight," Serna said. "I think it just goes along with the buzz surrounding UCF volleyball right now. It just proves how much harder we have worked and how hard Todd has worked to get a fan base. I mean, this was a scrimmage and we almost had a full crowd. That is pretty amazing and it felt great."
During the event, the Black and Gold played a four-set match, three sets to 25 and one set to 15, with players shuffling between the two teams. UCF posted 32 total block assists and 14 service aces throughout the match, while adding 98 total kills.
With some of the nerves out of their systems, the Knights look forward to the regular season. UCF kicks-off the 2008 season when they take on in-state rival Jacksonville, host Georgia Southern and Presbyterian at the Georgia Southern Invitational, before returning home to challenge 2007 National runner-up Stanford for the inaugural match at The Venue at UCF.
Season tickets for the Black and Gold's first year at The Venue are on sale now for $30, with the Knights playing a total of 10 matches at its new facility during season.
Season tickets for UCF's 2008 volleyball campaign at The Venue are currently available by calling the UCF athletics ticket office at 407-UCF-1000. For the latest news on the Knights, log on to www.UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit www.UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
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