Sept. 8, 2011
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By Eric DeSalvo
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF volleyball team, fresh off of sweeping the FGCU Homewood Suites Invitational last weekend, returns home for four matches this Friday and Sunday at The Venue at UCF as a part of the Residence Inn/UCF Invitational. The Knights (5-1) will host Pittsburgh Friday night at 8 p.m. in VolleyBowl IV with the first 1,000 students in the door receiving a guaranteed ticket to the Boston College football game Saturday night.
The fourth installment of VolleyBowl aims for another rowdy bunch as the Knights have hosted their two largest crowds in prior years at the event.
In 2008, UCF hosted then-No. 3 Stanford with a record crowd of 1,568 fans in attendance for the inaugural VolleyBowl. The following year, the attendance mark was once again broken when the Knights hosted USF and had 1,603 spectators on hand.
Head coach Todd Dagenais is looking to fill The Venue for VolleyBowl IV against a tough Pittsburgh team, but also knows the team's three other matches will be no easy task.
"I think Pitt is a legit BIG EAST contender, and USF is a rival school like no other that we have," Dagenais said about the BIG EAST opponents. "(UNC) Greensboro, the two years in a row we've played them we have been down two sets and have come back both times, so I know they want to come in and take care of some business. Florida Atlantic is another one of those in-state schools and will give us their best effort.
"It is a big challenge ahead of us here to have to play four matches in three days against this kind of caliber of competition," Dagenais said. "We've put ourselves in position to be ready for this and we've put ourselves in position to succeed. Now we just have to go out there and take advantage of it."
This will be the first-ever matchup with the Panthers (6-1) who's only loss on the season came against No. 2 Penn State. UCF will open the tournament against UNC Greensboro at Noon on Friday. The Spartans (3-4) have failed to beat the Knights in all three prior contests.
Sunday's matchups feature two in-state foes with FAU (0-3) and USF (1-5). The Knights will take the floor against the Owls at 1:30 p.m., and look to improve their 28-8 record against the team from Boca Raton. UCF will close out the tournament against the Bulls at 7 p.m.
On the year, the Knights are averaging a .306 hitting percentage and four more kills-per-set (14.7) against their opponents. Led by senior setter Rachel Vukson (Oakville, Ontario), the squad has averaged 13.8 assists-per-set. Sophomore Angelica Crump (Atlanta, Ga.) leads the team in kills (82) and junior Evija Vilde (Riga, Latvia) continues to bring pressure from the opposite side with 66 daggers of her own.
Season tickets for the 2011 season are available now for only $30, which includes 18 regular-season matches at The Venue at UCF and admission to three home tournaments. Also available for purchase this season is the UCF Gold Pass. For $75, the Gold Pass grants the avid Knights fan admission to all home volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, softball and track & field events.