Sept. 12, 2008
MIAMI, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Despite a strong performance from freshman Renele Forde (Trincity, Trinidad and Tobago), the UCF volleyball team was swept by host Florida International, 3-0 (23-25, 17-25, 19-25) at the FIU Invitational Friday night at the FIU Arena. With the loss the Knights fall to 4-5 on the season, while the Golden Panthers improve to 7-1.
Forde led the Knights with a .500 hitting percentage, while adding five kills. Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.) posted a team-high six kills and sophomore Lauren Williams (Lake Mary, Fla.) also contributed five kills for UCF.
Defensively, junior Melissa Reinders (Winter Park, Fla.) paced UCF with eight digs, while freshman Kathleen Curry (Geneva, Fla.) added seven.
The Knights and the Golden Panthers were neck-and-neck the majority of the opening set, with UCF taking a four-point lead, 13-9, mid-way through. But, an 8-0 run by FIU erased UCF's lead and gave it a 17-13 advantage. A 9-1 run by UCF was enough to gain back the lead, 22-18, but a 7-1 run from the home team clinched the set.
The Black and Gold fell behind early in the second set, but managed to even the score, 11-11 after trailing by as many as six points. But, the Knights could only manage to score six more tallies from that point, falling to the Golden Panthers, 17-25.
In the final set, UCF again fell behind early, but this time it was not able to regain the lead, as FIU never trailed the entire third set.
The Knights resume play in the FIU Invitational Saturday with an 11 a.m. match against Oral Roberts, before facing Penn at 5 p.m.
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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