Sept. 17, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF volleyball team opens Conference USA play and hosts the Radisson-UCF Classic this weekend beginning Friday when it hosts Southern Miss at 1 p.m. at The Venue at UCF. The event continues Saturday with the Knights battling in-state foe Florida International at 3 p.m., before concluding with a 3 p.m. match against Florida A&M on Sunday.
The Knights enter their C-USA opener and final tournament of the season with an 8-3 record on the season after dropping a hard-fought affair to USF Tuesday for VolleyBowl II. Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.) paced UCF with a match-high 16 kills, while Kristin Fisher (Clearwater, Fla.) and Evija Vilde (Riga, Latvia) added 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Prior to its match-up with the Bulls, the Black and Gold had won three-straight matches against UTSA, High Point and UNC Greensboro.
After posting five-straight matches with 10 or more kills, Campbell is now only 55 kills and 48 digs away from becoming the fourth Knight in program-history to register both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career.
Southern Miss opens league play against the Knights Friday with an impressive 11-1 overall record on the season. The Golden Eagles' only loss, a 3-1 defeat, came at the hands of Samford on the road in their second match of the year. Heading into the contest with UCF, Southern Miss is riding a 10-match win streak and has swept its opponent in straight-sets in seven outings.
Florida International participates in the Radisson-UCF Classic this weekend with a 7-2 record on the season, with its only pair of losses coming against ranked opponents, then-No. 21 Kentucky and then-No. 22 Florida State. Last weekend, the Golden Panthers posted a 2-1 record at the FIU/UM Invitational with wins over Miami and Albany.
FAMU travels to Orlando for the Radisson-UCF Classic with a 2-4 record on the year after defeating Mercer, 3-0 Wednesday to open its new Multipurpose Center and Teaching Gymnasium. The Rattlers other win this season came against Stetson on the road on Sept. 4.
Season tickets for the 2009 season are still available for only $30, with the Knights hosting 13 more regular-season matches at The Venue at UCF this year.
Follow the Knights (twitter.com/UCF_Volleyball) and head coach Todd Dagenais (twitter.com/ucfvbtodd) on twitter and also check out Dagenais' Notebook and the UKnighted Volleyball Blog on the Inside UCF Volleyball page at UCFAthletics.com.
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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