Game Notes
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com)-- UCF Volleyball takes its first road trip this weekend, heading to Carbondale, Ill., for the Saluki Invitational. The Knights will face Southern Illinois, Northern Arizona and Western Michigan in the two-day tournament.
"We knew when we scheduled this weekend that it was going to be the toughest non-conference weekend for us," said head coach Todd Dagenais. "We knew that we had three teams who had an excellent opportunity to finish high if not win their conference this year. We knew we were scheduling teams that could win around 25 matches this year. The whole goal of this weekend was to go out and play (teams like) Cincinnati, Temple, UConn and SMU as many times as we can."
The Knights face host school SIU on Friday at 8 p.m. When the two teams met last year, UCF outlasted the Salukis 3-2 in a five set battle during the opening weekend. Kia Bright led the team with a double-double, tallying 17 kills and 18 digs to go along with two aces and a block. The Salukis enter the bout with a 3-0 record, defeating Central Michigan, Duquesne and IUPUI during their opening weekend at the IUPUI Invitational.
Northern Arizona and UCF have only met once before in 1996, when the Knights won 3-0. The two teams hit the hardwood on Saturday at 11 a.m. NAU enters the contest with 1-1 record, dropping its opening match to Temple, before defeating Hampton. The Lumberjacks' Lauren Jacobsen led the team with 20 kills and 20 digs, while Jensen Barton recorded 55 assists.
The Knights cap off the weekend with a match against Western Michigan on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The Broncos enter the competition with a 2-2 record. WMU fell to Cleveland State in their opening match before defeating Seton Hall. They fell to host school Notre Dame in their final bout of the weekend. The Broncos defeated Fort Wayne 3-2 on Tuesday evening. Sydney LeMay tallied 41 kills in the opening weekend, while Mary Murphy posted 123 assists.
