Aug. 25, 2012
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andrew Jennette
UCFAthletics.com
TAMPA, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF volleyball team was unable to get the offense rolling Saturday morning as it was topped by Wisconsin, 3-0 (20-25, 19-25, 21-25), from The Corral at the Sun Dome. The Knights (0-2) will conclude the USF Invitational against host South Florida on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Although UCF out-dug its opponent, the Badgers (2-0) held the Knights to a .149 hitting percentage on the day and both out-killed and out-blocked them, 45-41 and 13-3, respectively.
"Wisconsin is vastly superior to the team they were last year. I think they are going to have a lot of success in the Big Ten this year, head coach Todd Dagenais explained. Coach Waite has done an excellent job of navigating his team through injuries and adversity and the Big Ten is in for a big surprise if they take the Badgers lightly."
"We are still trying to find our offensive rhythm. We're moving in the right direction, but we're just off a few degrees. We left a lot plays out there today that we are perfectly capable of executing, Dagenais added. Our high amount of attack errors is a product of a couple different things. We need three people on a given opportunity to execute their assignment for us to score and right now we're only getting two out of three which breaks the chain of execution."
A wild first set saw the Badgers jump to an early four-point lead only to have the Knights battle back and score nine of the next 10 points to take an 11-7 advantage. Wisconsin responded with six straight to retake a 13-11 lead that it would never relinquish en route to a 25-20 set victory.
The second and third stanzas featured back and forth action, but the Knights were unable to close down the stretch as the Badgers scored four of the final five points in each of the last two frames.
Redshirt junior Angelica Crump finished the match with a team-high 12 kills and a .276 hitting percentage. Sophomore DeLaina Sarden led the team with a .389 attack percentage as she picked up seven kills. Redshirt sophomore Marie Reiterova recorded her second-consecutive double-double with 22 assists and 12 digs.
Wisconsin, led by Ellen Chapman's 13 kills and .333 attack percentage, hit .314 on the day.