March 30, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - In their second weekend of non-competitive season play, the UCF volleyball team hosted the VolleyKnights Spring Invitational Sunday, donating all $540 dollars worth of entry fees and all the funds raised through admission to the event.
Another organization benefiting from the tournament was the P.A.V.O. who held a refereeing clinic as well as a line judge clinic. Officials came from all over including some from Canada, Wisconsin and Colorado.
Teams from all around the state came to the Venue Sunday to play in an all day tournament, including Flagler, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida Southern, Nova Southeastern, Tampa, Stetson and West Florida. The Black and Gold came out of the weekend with an undefeated, 11-0 record.
Leading the offensive attack once again was senior Kristin Fisher (Clearwater, Fla.) who continued to display her consistency in the front row.
"Kristin Fisher once again showed that she is the heart and soul of this team," head coach Todd Dagenias said. "In those moments were we were challenged the most, Fisher stepped up and got a huge kill or a big dig. It's amazing to think that she was a front row only player hitting in the middle. She is turning into a true DI outside hitter."
Coming out of retirement for the Black and Gold was senior Andee Youngblood (Castle Rock, Colo.), who volunteered to play after a minor injury to freshman Marie Reitrova (Rokycany, CZE). The senior came in and set for the first 25 points of each two-game match of the day.
"I have never seen Andee play so free and relaxed," Dagenias said. "She absolutely shined today. I have no doubt that she has a professional playing career ahead of her if she decides to continue playing volleyball after graduation."
Coming in for the second set of 25 was freshman Jennifer Belew (St. Louis, Mo.) who Dagenais was eager to see playing on the court after much improvement in individual and team practice sessions.
"It was very exciting to see Jen run our offense so well today," Dagenias said. "She has been working very hard in practice to earn some playing time. Marie's injury allowed her the opportunity to showcase the results of all the hard work she has put in to this program."
Another young player that continued to shine was Angelica Crump (Atlanta, Ga.) who has been working on fine tuning other skills along side her ability to tally kills.
"Angelica is really starting to show that she is more than just a lethal attacker," Dagenais said. "She is really starting to understand the flow of a volleyball game, and make those off play reads that only come from playing in a bunch of matches"
The program was very excited about the team turnout and the funds that they were able to raise for the Central Florida Children's Home. They hope to continue this tradition for the springs to come and build the weekend up from 10 teams to 15-20.
"This event is growing into a special annual tradition," Dagenias said. "The officials have already planned to do their National Event here in Orlando again next year, we will add a true line judge clinic, and a scorekeepers clinic to make our event the `spring training site' of college volleyball. We hope to expand the event from 10 teams this year to 15-20 by next year. All of this should make for a great experience for athletes and officials, and help support the Children's Home in the process"
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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