Nov. 8, 2015
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF volleyball team saw a five-match win streak come to a close Sunday as East Carolina pulled off a 3-2 win in The Venue.
We have to be able to move forward, acting head coach Michelle Chatman said. That's one of our principles; respect the effort, keep grinding and making sure that we move forward. This is something that we will watch film on, address in practice on Tuesday and move forward. That's the only thing that we can do in order to expect to be successful.
The Pirates came out with a vengeance, despite UCF (14-12, 8-6 AAC) challenging at the end, and opened the match with a 25-23 set win. The Knights reversed the roles in the next set and senior Abbie Fleener evened the match as her kill gave UCF the 25-17 second set win.
Trailing 18-13 in the third set, the Black and Gold went on a 12-4 run to take a 25-22 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match. ECU responded by hitting .463 in the fourth set and forced a decisive fifth set. The Knights challenged, but were unable to overcome the Pirates and ECU won the match with a 15-9 fifth-set win.
Abbie Fleener led UCF with 18 kills. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Wickey added a career-best 15 kills with just one error to hit .636 in the match. Freshman Jordan Pingel posted her second-straight match with 30 digs, while redshirt freshman Maddie Haggerty tied her career-high with 16 digs.
Next Up
• UCF, who is presented by Holiday Inn Orlando East UCF Area, is back on the road next weekend, heading to Temple and UConn.
• The Knights are back at The Venue on Nov. 20 for Parents Night against Memphis and host Senior Night against Cincinnati on Nov. 22.
Story by Megan Herboth; Video by Evan Weston