ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com)—The UCF volleyball team played three matches at the Holiday Inn Orlando UCF Area Classic. The Knights posted a 2-1 record, and came in second at the tournament.
"Looking back on the weekend, there are so many positives that we can take away," said head coach Todd Dagenais. "We are growing as a team, piece by piece, inch by inch. It is such a good feeling to know that our offense can sustain, (even after) suffering setbacks and comeback with the right mentality. We haven't figured out who we are yet, we have ideas on who we can be."
UCF opened the tournament with a strong four set victory over FAU. The team recorded 61 kills, 56 assists and 62 digs. Jalé Hervey led the team with 22 kills, hitting .340 with two block solos. Jeanne Westney led the team with six total blocks (four solo, two assists).
"I thought that they (the Knights) adjusted really well for what we were trying to do and I thought we had a very specific gameplan," Dagenais said. "Once we settled down, I thought we served really well, blocked really well and I thought we attacked really well. A lot of the things that they did to us, we haven't seen or experienced that yet."
The Knights dropped a hard faught 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 23-25, 25-22, 5-15) match to LSU. Hervey recorded 19 kills, while Taylor Gallart and Kia Bright logged 17 and 16, respectively.
Jordan Pingel recorded 26 digs in the match.
"It's not losing that is disappointing, it's the way we lost," said Dagenais. "I think the players are disappointed because they feel like it got so hectic and fast that they were all on an island (by themselves). We have two choices; we can take this (loss) and wear it as an anchor around our neck or we walk out of the locker room, forget about it and learn from it."
On Sunday afternoon, the Knights defeated Seattle 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-23). Freshman Alli Sabol tallied eight kills, hitting .538 with two block assists. Kia Bright logged her sixth double-double of the year with 10 kills and 10 digs.
"If you were to tell me that we were going to be able to eek out a 3-0 win on this one (Seattle), I would've been ecstatic and I would've thought you were nuts," Dagenais said. "I didn't think that such a quality team would be a team that we would be able to beat 3-0. I thought all along that we had the ability to beat them, so this is a high quality win for us."
Hervey and Sabol were named to the All-Tournament Team.
The Knights, who are presented by Holiday Inn Orlando East UCF Area, return to The Venue as they host the Holiday Inn Orlando East UCF Area Challenge on Sept. 16-17. UCF will open the weekend against UNC Asheville on Friday, Sept., 16 at noon.
General admission adult season tickets are now available for $30, and youth tickets (ages 2-17 years) are $15 and good for one-general admission seat to all 2015 regular season home matches. General admission single game tickets are $5 for adults and $4 for youth, seniors (55+) and UCF Faculty Staff. Admission is free for UCF students. For more information on how to purchase tickets, click here or call 407-UCF-1000.