Oct. 4, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Behind a 16-kill, 10-dig performance from sophomore Kristin Fisher (Clearwater, Fla.), the UCF (9-9, 1-4 C-USA) volleyball team swept visiting Memphis, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-22), to bring home its first Conference USA victory Sunday afternoon at The Venue at UCF.
"Today we talked about breaking through. Today we talked about righting some of the wrongs that were caused not only by our opponents, but also by us," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "Today was our breakthrough day. I can't tell you how important it was for us to go out there and win. It was also important to not only win, but to win 3-0 and convincingly."
Fisher established a new career-best with her .387 attack percentage in the match, committing only four errors on 31 attempts. She also added two service aces and two blocks.
"This team refuses to give up and we refuse to not continue to fight," Fisher said. "That is our team and that is what I love about this team. We are going to keep fighting and we are not going to think about our past matches. We are going to think about our next match and how we are going to win our next match."
Erin Campbell (Kansas City, Mo.) and Evija Vilde (Riga, Latvia) also aided the offensive effort for the Black and Gold with nine and eight kills, respectively.
"I was really important for us to get our first conference win of the season today," Campbell said. "We have been in these five-set matches and just haven't been able to take one home. So it was really, really important for us to come out today and execute like we knew we could. The rewarding thing about this is that we haven't stopped clawing for the finish line. We haven't given up. We are still inching and today was just a perfect example of us finally breaking through."
Senior setter Andee Youngblood (Castle Rock, Colo.) led the Knights to a .264 team attack percentage with 29 assists, while also contributing seven digs, three block assists and two service aces. Freshman Meredith Murphy (Austin, Texas) also had a hand in the mark, posting a career-high five assists and totaling eight digs.
The Knights registered its highest hitting percentage of the afternoon in the opening set, hitting .371 with 16 total kills on 35 attempts, while committing only three errors. Fisher hit .571 in the set with eight kills, four digs and a service ace.
In set two, Memphis (2-16, 0-5 C-USA) helped UCF take a 2-0 lead in the match after committing five service errors and a ball handling error, despite outhitting the home team .138 to .087.
The Black and Gold put the match away in the third set after hitting .273 with 12 kills and only three attack errors. Fisher once again led the Knights in the set, registering five kills and a .364 attack percentage, while Sara Rex (Oldsmar, Fla.) paced UCF defensively with two blocks.
The Knights are back in action on Oct. 9 when they travel to El Paso, Texas, to take on UTEP in a 9 p.m. ET contest, before taking on Tulane in New Orleans, La., for a match against Tulane Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. ET.
Season tickets for the 2009 season are still available for only $30, with the Knights hosting six regular-season matches remaining 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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