Sept. 15, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF volleyball team had three players total 10 or more kills, which included a match-high 16 kills from senior Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.), but it was not enough as the Knights fell to in-state rival USF, 3-0 (23-25, 23-25, 23-25) Tuesday night in front of a school-record 1,603 fans at The Venue at UCF for VolleyBowl II.
The crowd of 1,603 broke the all-time attendance record that UCF set last season in their home-opener against then-No. 3 Stanford, which was the original VolleyBowl.
"I thought that really was an electric atmosphere tonight," said head coach Todd Dagenais. "I think to pack that place with that many students was really a great job by Jimmy Skiles and the marketing crew. I hope that we earned some fans and that some of those people will come back again."
Besides Campbell, sophomore Kristin Fisher (Clearwater, Fla.) and freshman Evija Vilde (Riga, Latvia) also tallied double-digits in kills, with 12 and 10, respectively, while sophomore Sara Rex (Oldsmar, Fla.) added eight kills and a .667 hitting percentage.
"The only disappointing thing about tonight was the fact that we lost," Dagenais said. "I thought we played better than we played in the last six matches offensively. I think we found some rhythm tonight. Offensively we were good enough to win, but as for blocking and defense and some of the little plays, they were better than we were tonight."
Defensively, freshman Meredith Murphy (Austin, Texas) posted her eighth-consecutive match with 10 or more digs with 14 against the Bulls.
The teams played neck-and-neck throughout the entire match, with a total of 28 tied scores and nine lead changes recorded, but the Knights were not able to capitalize on early leads in the trio of sets.
"That was a pretty tightly-contested match," Dagenais said. "Anytime you see a bunch of 25s and a bunch of 23s, really all that is just one swing, just one play difference. It is really frustrating to be on the south end of a game like that."
The Knights have the opportunity to bounce-back quickly as they host the Radisson-UCF Classic at The Venue at UCF this weekend. The Black and Gold opens Conference USA play Friday afternoon against Southern Miss at 1 p.m. to kick-off the event and will face in-state foe FIU on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Knights conclude the tournament with a match against Florida A&M at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Season tickets for the 2009 season are still available for only $30, with the Knights hosting 12 more regular-season matches at The Venue at UCF this 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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