Oct. 26, 2014
Final Stats
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Megan Herboth
UCFKnights.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - Earning its tenth straight win and remaining undefeated in the American Athletic Conference was not an easy task for the UCF volleyball team. The Knights, wearing pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness, battled back from early deficits in the first two sets before earning the 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-20) win over Tulane on Sunday afternoon at The Venue.
This was one of those matches that showed what kind of guts we had, UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said It's a challenge to string match (wins) in a row. How we worked, how we stayed calm and climbed out of the situations we found ourselves in really says a lot about this team.
UCF (17-5, 10-0 AAC) fell in an early hole, as Tulane jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Knights used a pair of timeouts quickly as the Green Wave took an 11-5 lead. A block from senior DeLaina Sarden and junior Abbie Fleener, followed by an ace from senior Marie Reiterova cut in to the Tulane lead. A kill from senior Loren Cory sent Sarden back to serve, and the Knights went on a 7-0 run to take a 16-13 lead. The Green Wave tied the score at 20, but senior Kaye-Alese Green's kill started a three point swing for the Knights. A Tulane attack error gave UCF the 25-21 victory in the opening set.
In the second set, Tulane jumped out to a 5-2 lead early. Senior Jade Hayes pulled the Knights even with an ace and back-to-back kills from sophomore Kia Bright and Fleener pushed UCF out in front, 8-5, and forced a Tulane timeout. Consecutive Tulane attacking errors and tough UCF blocking put the Knights up 24-10. The Black and Gold took a two set lead to intermission with a 25-11 second set win.
The Knights carried the momentum out of the locker room, using kills from sophomore Jale Hervey and Fleener to take a 4-1 lead in the third set. Tulane closed the gap, tying the set at four with a service ace, but the Knights used kills from Fleener and Sarden to rebuild an 8-5 lead. A service error from the Knights knotted the score at 17, but Hervey and Cory tallied consecutive kills to give UCF a 20-17 lead and force a Tulane timeout. Bright set up match point with her tenth kill of the day. Jade Hayes' serve landed between two Tulane players for an ace to seal the 25-20 set win and clinch the match victory.
We showed grittiness and toughness, Dagenais said. That's what we did today and we're proud of that. We'll get back to work tomorrow and prepare for next week.
Jale Hervey led the Knights with 11 kills and hit .320 in the match. Kia Bright posted a double-double, finishing with 10 kills and 10 digs. Kaye-Alese Green hit .417 with six kills on 12 swings and had two blocks in the match. DeLaina Sarden led the Knights with three blocks, and Marie Reiterova tallied 20 assists for UCF. Jade Hayes led the Knights with 10 digs and a season-high three aces.
The Knights have a quick turnaround, hosting in-state rival USF for Volleybowl VII at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at The Venue. UCF hosts East Carolina at 7 p.m. on Friday for a Volloween match.
UCF Volleyball is presented by Radisson- UCF Area. For more information on how to purchase tickets, visit UCFKnights.com or call 407-UCF-1000.