Sept. 19, 2008
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF volleyball team defeated McNeese State in three sets by scores of 25-5, 25-18 and 25-19 Friday night to move to 2-0 in the Southern Miss La Quinta Inn Invitational at Reed Green Coliseum. The victory is the fourth-straight sweep for the Knights and improves their record to 8-5 on the season.
The Black and Gold got things going early, posting 15 kills and a .714 attack percentage in the opening set, not committing a single hitting error. The Knights' hitting numbers kept improving as the match went on, as they totaled 16 kills in the second set and 21 kills in the third set, hitting .333 in both. UCF's overall attack percentage of .412 against the Cowgirls (3-6) was the highest on the season.
"We executed the game plan down to the letter for two and a half sets," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "That first set we were as efficient as any team could be at any level. We were absolutely perfectly efficient in that set. We had a couple errors early and a serving error late, but other than that the team executed everything that the coaching staff had asked them to."
Senior Jenny Heppert (Lawrence, Kan.) recorded the team's highest attack percentage on the night, hitting .643 with 10 kills, while adding a pair of service aces and a block solo. Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.) paced the Knights with 17 kills and 20 points. The junior hit a career-high .417 and had four digs.
Also putting up big numbers for the Black and Gold was senior Stephanie Serna (San Antonio, Texas) who had 11 kills and posted a .500 hitting percentage on the night, her third-straight match hitting .500 or better, while also recording three block assists. Sophomore Lauren Williams (Lake Mary, Fla.) added three block assists and a block solo.
Defensively, the Knights' back row got a good workout, with Kathleen Curry (Geneva, Fla.) registering a match-high 19 digs and Melissa Reinders (Winter Park, Fla.) posting 13. Also in on the action was sophomore Kristen Petrasic (Carrollton, Texas), who had six digs in the match.
"Defensively, we had answers for everything that they tried to do to us, especially that first game," Dagenais said. "We were really digging a lot of balls. That was led by our back row of Curry, Reinders and Petrasic. Once we were getting a lot of those balls up we did a great job of spreading the ball around in transition."
The Knights continue play at the Reed Green Coliseum Saturday morning against North Texas as part of the Southern Miss La Quinta Inn Invitational. The match is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET.
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.
Short Box Score (Match)
McNeese State vs UCF (Sep 19, 2008 at Hattiesburg, Miss.)
UCF def. McNeese State 25-5,25-18,25-19
McNeese State (3-6)
(Kills-aces-blocks) - Jones, Alyson 10-0-0; Tyler,
Chanel 4-0-0; Cook, Jennifer 4-1-1; Allen, Amanda 3-0-0; Bowden,
Nicole 2-0-1; Breazeale, Katie 1-0-1; Sanchez, Deanna 1-0-0; Cartie,
Sarah 1-0-2; Totals 26-1-3.0. (Assists) - Cartie, Sarah 21. (Dig
leaders) - Tyler, Chanel 14; Cartie, Sarah 5
UCF (8-5)
(Kills-aces-blocks) - Campbell, Erin 17-2-1; SERNA,
Stephanie 11-0-3; Heppert, Jenny 10-2-1; Williams, Janine 7-0-0;
Williams, Lauren 4-0-4; Forde, Renele 1-0-0; Rex, Sara 1-0-0; FISHER,
Kristin 1-0-0; Rosenthal, Lauren 0-1-0; Petrasic, Kristen 0-2-0;
Curry, Kathleen 0-1-0; Totals 52-8-6.0. (Assists) - Rosenthal, Lauren
45. (Dig leaders) - Curry, Kathleen 19; Reinders, Melissa 13
Site: Hattiesburg, Miss. (Reed Green Coliseum)
Date: Sep 19, 2008 Attend: 91 Time: 1:11
Referees: Patsy Burke, Apple Kridakorn
-UCF-