Oct. 12, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Junior Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.) posted her seventh-consecutive double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs, despite the UCF (13-7, 5-2 C-USA) volleyball team falling to UAB, 3-1 (13-25, 26-24, 23-25, 10-25), Sunday afternoon in the battle for the top spot in Conference USA at The Venue at UCF. With the loss the Knights dropped to second place in the league with a 5-2 record behind the Blazers (16-3, 6-1 C-USA), who hold a 6-1 mark.
Senior Stephanie Serna (San Antonio, Texas) had 11 kills and two block assists in the loss, registering her 11th-straight match with 10 or more kills.
"Even though we didn't win tonight, I think that we did a really good job in the big picture," Serna said after the match. "The big picture is that we have improved so much. Yes, this was a heartbreaker and they found little ways to chip and tear at our weaknesses and take the game. We still have come great lengths as a team together. Inside and outside, we have made some good improvements and we are just going to learn from this and move on. We have Houston and Rice next weekend and the only thing that we can think about is the future. We do not want to dwell on this kind of a heartbreaking loss."
Janine Williams (Gainesville, Fla.), Jenny Heppert (Lawrence, Kan.) and Lauren Williams (Lake Mary, Fla.) added eight, seven and six kills, respectively, for the Knights' offense, with Lauren Williams hitting a match-best .667.
Heppert also contributed big for UCF defensively, registering four block assists. With 337 career blocks, the middle-blocker now needs only one block to match Amanda Stoutjesdyk for the No. 3 spot on the UCF individual career records chart for total blocks with 338.
Also producing on the defensive side of the ball was freshman Kathleen Curry (Geneva, Fla.). The libero totaled 14 digs and now has eight-consecutive matches where she has tallied 13 digs or more.
The Blazers had four different players post 12 or more kills in the match, while hitting .394 as a team.
After falling in the opening set, the Knights battled back to win the second set, 26-24. The Black and Gold kept things interesting in the third set, taking the Blazers down to the wire, but dropped the set 25-23, before UAB took the match and sole possession of first place in conference standings with a 25-10 victory in set four.
"I was really happy in how we came back in the second set," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "We decided that we were here to fight. For a team that has not ever been in a match where they were contending for a top spot in a conference, that is an acquired taste. That is not something that you are necessarily born with. It is something that you have to learn. I give our team a lot of credit for coming out of that first set instead of being totally destroyed. They decided to fight and I thought we did a really nice job hitting .324 that second set and we started to run our offense."
The Knights hit the road next weekend for a pair of C-USA matches in Houston, Texas. UCF will battle Houston Friday at 8 p.m. ET, before facing Rice Saturday at 8 p.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) UAB vs UCF (Oct 12, 2008 at Orlando, Fla.)
UAB def. UCF 25-13,24-26,25-23,25-10
UAB (16-3, 6-1 C-USA) (Kills-aces-blocks) - LALIC, Andrea 16-0-1; DENT, Casey 15-1-1; BOZIC, Ivana 13-0-3; DOMINGOS, Lilly 12-1-8; MCDONALD, Jordan 5-0-0; PEGG, Savannah 3-0-2; STEFANOV, Nevena 2-1-3; THOMAS, Heather 0-1-0; Totals 66-4-10.0. (Assists) - STEFANOV, Nevena 57. (Dig leaders) - BOZIC, Ivana 17; VUJOVIC, Aleksandra 14; THOMAS, Heather 9; STEFANOV, Nevena 8
UCF (13-7, 5-2 C-USA) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Campbell, Erin 15-0-1; Serna, Stephanie 11-0-2; Williams, Janine 8-0-1; Heppert, Jenny 7-0-4; Williams, Lauren 6-0-1; Rosenthal, Lauren 0-1-1; Curry, Kathleen 0-1-0; Totals 47-2-5.0. (Assists) - Rosenthal, Lauren 38. (Dig leaders) - Curry, Kathleen 14; Campbell, Erin 11; Rosenthal, Lauren 8
Site: Orlando, Fla. (The Venue at UCF) Date: Oct 12, 2008 Attend: 309 Time: 1:45 Referees: Donna Carter, Leisha Jordan
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