Oct. 21, 2011
="" alt="Knight Head" border="0" class="imported"> Read John Denton's Knights Insider | ="" alt="Twitter Logo" border="0" class="imported">Follow us on Twitter | ="" alt="Facebook Logo" border="0" class="imported">Get social with the Knights on Facebook
By Eric DeSalvo
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF volleyball team returned to its winning ways at home Friday night inside The Venue at UCF as it knocked off Tulane, 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-17). It was the first time the Knights successfully defended their home court against the Green Wave (8-13, 3-7) since 2005.
With the victory, the Knights improved to 13-8 overall and evened their Conference USA record at 5-5. Head coach Todd Dagenais is pleased with his team's overall performance against Tulane, and is well aware of how crucial each conference match is at this point in the season.
"It was a great team win for us tonight," Dagenais said. "They found a way to put it together after not having the best week of practice. We challenged them to dig deep and make something happen because this is a pivotal weekend for us in terms of where we finish at the end of the year.
"Our goal is to still be top three in the conference because that puts us on the board on Selection Sunday," Dagenais added. "We have the ability to do that, but we knew we had to beat Tulane to be able to put ourselves in that position. This is one of those pivotal games that decides whether you are going to be in the top or bottom half (of the league)."
The Knights wasted no time in the first set, jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead behind senior setter Rachel Vukson (Oakville, Ontario). The talented upperclassmen registered the opening kill and proceeded to guide the Knights at the service line to four-straight winners. She aided the team to a .385 hitting percentage in the frame and dished out 11 of her 28 assists in the stanza.
In the second frame, UCF rattled off the first four points to set the tone early. Managing to hit only .189 in the stanza, the Knights relied on their defense to carry them to the 25-21 finish. The squad totaled four total blocks in the frame, including a block solo each from junior Tory McCutcheon (Milton, Ontario) and freshman DeLaina Sarden (Lawrenceville, Ga.).
Sophomore Angelica Crump (Atlanta, Ga.) took over for the Knights in the third set, landing five of her 11 kills, and closed out the evening with a .304 attack percentage. Sarden and Vukson both chipped in with two more block assists on their way to limiting Tulane to just .051 in the frame, and .087 for the night.
The Knights improved to 9-8 all-time against the Green Wave, and will quickly turn around and travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., to take on Southern Miss Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.