Sept. 13, 2013
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andrew Jennette
UCFKnights.com
ATLANTA, Ga. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF volleyball team got off to a strong start in the Georgia State Invitational as it topped the host Panthers, 3-1, (25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 25-22) on Friday night at GSU Sports Arena. The Knights (7-2) will play for the tournament championship tomorrow with a pair of matches as they take on Buffalo at noon and Davidson at 5:30 p.m.
Earlier in the day, UCF had its six-match winning streak snapped as it dropped a hard-fought five setter (19-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20, 7-15) to Clemson (5-3) in non-tournament action. The Knights rallied to tie the match twice, but a 13-1 run in the deciding frame propelled the Tigers to victory.
Clemson 3, UCF 2 - Box Score
Neither team was able to get much traction offensively as the two squads combined for 62 attack errors on the match. UCF hit just .127 for the match as a team, a season-low. Senior Angelica Crump led the way offensively in her hometown in front of several family members with 18 kills and two solo blocks. Junior DeLaina Sarden continued her dominant early-season run with 15 kills on a .464 attack percentage.
This certainly wasn't one of the prettiest matches ever played by two teams, head coach Todd Dagenais said. Both teams struggled offensively and when that happens it comes down to individual players making individual plays. We were just unable to terminate the ball and our offense was just uncharacteristically poor.
Junior Marie Reiterova put up her second-consecutive double-double and third on the season after dishing out 41 assists to go with 10 digs. The Luxembourg native also chipped in four block assists. Junior Jade Hayes and senior Roxy Mendez were effective on the back row with 19 and 13 digs respectively.
UCF 3, Georgia State 1 - Box Score
The Black and Gold bounced back from a subpar showing in its opening match with a more balanced offensive effort in the nightcap. UCF hit .322 as a team which topped Georgia State's (4-5) .268 effort. Junior Loren Cory was big as she smacked 15 kills on 29 swings with just one error for a stellar .483 attack percentage. Crump again led the team in kills as she blasted 18 for the second time on the day and while hitting a strong .400.
Honestly there weren't many adjustments we made between the first and second match tonight, Dagenais said. The reality of college volleyball is that outside hitters dictate the outcome of matches. It's almost impossible to get your middles enough swings to affect the outcome if your outsides are struggling. That's kind of what we saw this morning as DeLaina did really well, but it didn't matter because our outsides struggled.
Defensively, Hayes matched her total from the morning contest with a team-high 19 digs, giving her a total of 38 for the day. Freshman Taylor Gallart set a new-career high with nine digs while chipping in six kills. Reiterova dished out 55 assists, bringing her Friday total to 96.