Oct. 29, 2014
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Megan Herboth
UCFKnights.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF volleyball team used the electric energy from the crowd as motivation to hold off a late push from USF and win Volleyball VII 3-2 (25-19, 25-19, 21-25, 24-26, 15-8) in The Venue on Wednesday night. The Knights (18-5, 11-0 AAC) won their 11th straight match, the most consecutive wins since 2003, in front of the largest crowd of the season.
"I thought the atmosphere was one of the big things that helped us get over the top today," UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said "What an exciting match. The UCF band provided an unbelievable home court advantage. Our players draw energy from that. We gave it our all for all five sets for the fans."
Sophomore Jale Hervey opened things up for the Knights, as her kill gave the first point of the match to UCF. A 4-0 run on kills from Hervey, senior Loren Cory and senior DeLaina Sarden gave the Knights a 9-3 lead and forced USF to call timeout. The Bulls cut the UCF lead to two, 13-11, but kills from Cory and junior Abbie Fleener, along with a solo denial from sophomore Kia Bright, extended the UCF lead and prompted the second Bulls timeout of the set. A late six-point swing for USF pulled the Bulls within four, 23-19, but Hervey put the Knights in position for set point with the kill. An attack error by USF gave the Knights a 25-19 opening set win.
Bright started a three-point run for the Knights with a kill, which she followed with UCF's lone ace of the evening in the second set. Sarden gave UCF the 7-3 lead with a kill of her own. USF closed the gap with a three-point run to make it 13-10, but Sarden's kill put the Knights back in control. Cory forced a timeout by the Bulls with a kill that put UCF in front 18-12. The teams matched each other kill-for-kill at the end of the set, but Cory's kill brought the fans to their feet, closing the set, 25-19, in favor of UCF. The Knights took a 2-0 lead in the locker rooms for intermission.
USF came out of the break on a mission to quiet the crowd. Jumping out to a 6-1 lead in the third set, the Bulls forced a UCF timeout. Out of the huddles, the Knights went on a 6-0 run on USF errors to take a 7-6 lead. USF reclaimed the lead and, despite battling back to tie the score on two occasions, UCF could not put a late run together and the Bulls took a 25-21 third set win.
The Knights combined kills from Hervey and Sarden with a block by Sarden and Cory and added in USF attack errors to take a 6-0 lead in the fourth set. A Bulls service error gave UCF a 15-8 lead, but USF was not going to make things easy for the Knights. Back-to-back attacking errors by UCF tied the score at 17 and USF took the lead on the next play on a kill from Erin Fairs. Again, the teams matched each other kill for kill and block for block, but consecutive Knight miscues allowed the Bulls to even the match at 2-2.
Heading to the fifth set for just the fourth time all season, the Knights came out focused in the decisive set. Fueled by the crowd, UCF used kills from Sarden and Cory to take a 3-0 lead early. Consecutive kills from Hervey and Bright forced USF to use a timeout with the Knights up 6-2. A pair of attack errors pushed the UCF lead to 8-2 and Bright forced the Bulls to call a second timeout with the Knights up 10-4. USF looked to make a late run, but back-to-back errors gave the Knights the 15-8 set win and their 11th consecutive match win.
"I'm proud of this team," Dagenais said. "I'm proud of the effort. They're not using (being) tired as an excuse. They know what they can do and they went out there and did it."
Jale Hervey led the Knights with 22 kills and hit .350 in the match. Loren Cory tallied 14 kills on 27 swings with no errors to hit .519 in the match. Kia Bright just missed a double-double, finishing with nine kills, nine digs and three solo blocks. Senior Jade Hayes posted a match-high 15 digs, while senior Marie Reiterova finished with 34 assists and 12 digs for her eighth double-double match of the season.
The Knights return to the court on Friday, hosting East Carolina in a Volloween match at 7 p.m. at The Venue.
UCF Volleyball is presented by Radisson- UCF Area. For more information on how to purchase tickets, visit UCFKnights.com or call 407-UCF-1000.