Nov. 2, 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) - Fresh off of a historic sweep of both Houston and Rice last weekend at home, the UCF volleyball team will head to Memphis, Tenn., to take on the Tigers (15-11, 4-9) Thursday and Friday night at 8 p.m. in a back-to-back affair at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. This will be the last new opponent of the regular season that the Knights (15-9, 7-6) will see in 2011.
With only seven matches left on the slate for the Black and Gold, head coach Todd Dagenais is glad to see his team peaking for the second time this season at such a critical juncture.
"Now we are finally hitting our second stride, and not many teams get to hit two strides during the year," Dagenais said. "We are one of them, and I think that is a great tribute to how hard the team is working. Now as we have goals of finishing in the top three, those are very realistic being only one game out of third. Everything that we want is still out there."
Sitting on 7-6 in league play, the Knights are in a three-way tie for fifth with SMU and UTEP, but only trail second-place Houston by two games. The road-tested squad will have to continue delivering solid results in hostile environments in order to attain its goals as five of the final seven matches will be away from home.
"Memphis is probably one of the most athletic teams we will play all season," Dagenais said of the Tigers. "Altrese Hawkins is an amazing physical specimen, and I think this year she has a lot more around her then what she has had before. It's one of those teams that can play really well at home, and they do post some matchup problems for us that we must be cognizant of. We just have to find a way to go in there and be successful."
The meeting between the two teams will see Hawkins and Angelica Crump (Atlanta, Ga.) go head-to-head in a battle of the league's best hitters. Although Hawkins continues to put up impressive numbers for the Tigers, averaging 4.20 kills per set which is third in C-USA and 38th in the nation, she will be up against Crump who boats the conference's second-most kills per set (4.23) and is 26th nationally in the category.
Both UCF and Memphis rank second and third, respectively, in kills and assists per set, as well as third and fourth in overall hitting percentage on the season. Each team's offense goes through some of the nation's top setters as Rachel Vukson (Oakville, Ontario) leads C-USA in assists per set (12.05) and Memphis' Hajnalka Molnar (11.68) ranks second. The duo is third and 12th, respectively, in the country in that category.