Sept. 1, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF volleyball team continued its streak of perfection Tuesday, defeating Bethune-Cookman, 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-19), on the road at Moore Gymnasium to improve to 5-0 on the season and win its 15th-consecutive set.
The Knights were led offensively by Kristin Fisher (Clearwater, Fla.) who came off the bench to hit a career-high .312 with 13 kills, while Lauren Williams (Lake Mary, Fla.) added eight kills and registered a .462 hitting percentage.
UCF hit .266 as a team while outhitting the Wildcats, 38 kills to 29. The Black and Gold also posted 41 digs compared to only 15 digs for the home team.
"I thought that Bethune-Cookman played extremely fast and made shots that were keeping us off balance tonight," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "They played significantly better at home today than they played in our tournament last weekend. I think that they have the makings to be a very good team in the MEAC this year."
The Knights and the Wildcats (0-3) remained neck and neck through the first 14 points to open the first set, before a kill from freshman Evija Vilde (Riga, Latvia) and three-straight errors from Bethune-Cookman gave the Black and Gold a 10-7 lead and forced the home team to take a timeout. The Wildcats continued to claw their way back into the set, pulling to within one point of the Knights late at 21-20, but a service ace from Nichole Riedel (Denver, Colo.), a kill from Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.) and two BCU errors gave UCF their first win of the night.
Campbell posted nine kills in the match for the Black and Gold and added three blocks and a service ace. Vilde finished the night hitting .273 with four kills, while Riedel had four kills and five digs for the Knights.
After the Knights took a 3-1 lead to open the second set, they saw Bethune-Cookman go on a 6-0 run to put them down early. UCF continued to trail the Wildcats late into the set until a kill from Fisher evened the game, 14-14. From that point, the visiting Knights would go on to dominate the remainder of the set, closing it out on an 11-1 run.
In the final set, UCF once again had to make a comeback after trailing by as many as four points early. But a 6-0 run quickly put the Knights in the driver's seat, 13-9. The run gave the Black and Gold all the momentum it would need as they went on to close out the set, 25-19, with the Wildcats not being able to pull within more than three points of the visiting squad to sweep the match.
"I was excited about our composure and thought that we did a nice job of pulling back together and staying together after we got scattered early," Dagenais said. "The ironic thing is that we walk out of there feeling that we played a very bad match, but the statistics show that we were a lot better than what we feel like we were. That just goes to show that not everything is what it appears to be. It was good for us to play a match like this before we head on the road to Texas this weekend."
The Knights continue their six-match roadswing this weekend when they participate in the Baylor Classic in Waco, Texas. UCF opens the event Friday against host Baylor at 8 p.m. ET, before concluding the tournament Saturday versus both No. 24 Purdue at 10 a.m. ET and Texas-San Antonio at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Season tickets for the 2009 season are on sale now for only $30, with the Knights hosting 16 regular-season matches at The Venue at UCF throughout the year.
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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