ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com)—The UCF volleyball team defeated Kent State 3-1 on Friday evening in their second match of the Holiday Inn Orlando East UCF Area Invitational on Friday afternoon at The Venue.
"To get into that first very tight match of the year and be able to pull it out, to get under that stress and anxiety of having a team maker run at you and be able to pull it out is huge for our confidence," said head coach Todd Dagenais. We knew they were going to be tough," said head coach Todd Dagenais.
The Knights dominated the first set, hitting .385 in the 25-19 victory. After the two teams went back and forth for the first part of the set. UCF took a timeout when they were down 8-10 and went on a 17-4 run. The run gave them the momentum to take the second set 25-14. The Knights and Flashes went back and forth multiple times in the third set, tying the game up six times. Kent State strung together two consecutive points five times to take the third set 25-23. Although the Flashes won the first point of the fourth set, the Knights won the next three points to go up 3-1, from there it was a back and forth battle. The fourth set consisted of seven lead changes and 15 times the score was tied. UCF rounded up a big kill from Ann Richards and two service aces from Miranda Watkins to claim the fourth set and match 25-21.
Attacks for Ann
- Richards had a 11 kills and hit .333 in the nightcap.
- The junior hit .444 in the first set and .429 in the fourth set.
- The Saskatchewan, Canada native recorded a set-high 5 kills in the first set and an additional 4 kills in the fourth set.
Warm Welcome Westney
- Freshman Jeanne Westney continued her collegiate debut starting for the Knights.
- Westney finished with six kills, hitting .417 including a season high four total blocks (two block solos, two block assists).
Heavy Hitters
- The Knights had four players that finished with more than 10 kills in the nightcap.
- "I was asked this morning, what my ideal stat sheet would look like and I said 'I want to look down at the kills and see 11,11,11,11,11,11 for six hitters," said Dagenais. "We did what we needed to do to spread out the ball to our pin hitters to make ourselves successful."
Next Up
- UCF will take on No. 17 Florida State on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at The Venue.