Sept. 20, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF (8-6) volleyball team concluded the Radisson-UCF Classic Sunday with a 3-2 (13-24, 10-24, 12-25, 14-22, 7-15), loss to visiting Florida A&M (3-5) at The Venue at UCF.
The Knights were led offensively by Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.), who tallied 19 kills. Fellow outside hitter Kristin Fisher (Clearwater, Fla.) posted her second-straight double-double after totaling 16 kills and 16 digs, and Sarah Rex (Oldsmar, Fla.) recorded a team best .357 hitting percentage with eight kills and four blocks.
Andee Youngblood (Castle Rock, Colo.) paced the defense with eight total blocks while, Tory McCutcheon (Milton, Ontario) added seven blocks and four kills. Meredith Murphy (Austin, Texas) posted a team best 19 digs and extended her streak of matches with 10 or more digs to 11.
"Congratulations to Florida A&M for executing their game plan at a pretty high level, especially their middle hitting. It was better in this match than any other match of the tournament," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "Our team is at an emotional and physical crossroads right now and where we go from here depends on a lot of little things. It depends on how we stay together as a group, how we support each other, how we hold each other accountable for little things and ultimately depends on looking at our individual skills."
The Knights won the first set behind a .667 hitting percentage, two kills and three block assists from McCutcheon, while out-blocking the Rattlers, 5-2 as a team.
After dropping the next two sets, the UCF stormed back to post its best performance of the day in set four. The Black and Gold hit .354 with 20 kills and committed only three errors, led by Campbell's eight kills and a .750 performance with three kills from Rex. McCutcheon continued to play strong in the set totaling three blocks for the Knights' defense.
The momentum from set number four wasn't enough to carry into the fifth and final set, however, as the Rattlers jumped on the home team early and never gave up their lead.
"I still believe this team can achieve the goals we set out to do," Dagenais said. "It's going to be difficult to win 20 matches now unless we really rock our conference, but the opportunities are there to do it. We just have to get better."
The Knights are back in action Friday when they travel to face Conference USA-foe East Carolina on the road on Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. Following their match-up with the Pirates, UCF will challenge Marshall Sunday in a nationally-televised league-contest at 2 p.m. The tape-delayed match will air on CBS College Sports on Sept. 30 at 8 p.m.
Season tickets for the 2009 season are on sale now for only $30, with the Knights hosting eight remaining 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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