GREENVILLE, N.C.-- The UCF Volleyball team defeated the ECU Pirates, 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 32-30, 25-12) in American Athletic Conference play on Friday evening at Williams Arena.
"I think we come out of Greenville very fortunate to have a win," said head coach Todd Dagenais. "However, I firmly believe that we created our own fortune at times with how we played the game. East Carolina is absolutely as good as advertised. I think our consistency is what barely kept it in our favor at the end, but I think this match could've easily went either direction. We made some incredible plays on some critical points."
The Knights jumped out to an early 9-6 lead in the first set, before the Pirates tied it up at 12. The teams went back and forth before UCF called a timeout at 20-19. Following the timeout, the Black and Gold took the set winning five of the next seven points. UCF started the second set strong, jumping out to a 3-1 lead. ECU fought back and took a 5-4 lead and never lost the it. The Knights lead for the first half of the set, before the Pirates took a 13-12 lead. UCF fought off five ECU set points before taking the third set 32-30. The Black and Gold used the momentum gained in the third set, to go on an 8-1 run to start the fourth. UCF never dropped the lead and won the final set 25-12.
Multiple Hitters
- UCF finished with five player averaging more than eight kills in the victory.
- Jalé Hervey (21 kills) and Kia Bright (12 kills) both finished with double-digit kills.
Double-Double Toil Trouble
- Three players finished with double-doubles in the victory. Miranda Watkins (22 assists, 10 digs) and Farah Rajaee (24 assists, 16 digs) and Bright (12 kills, 10 digs).
Block Party
- The Knights finished with 13 team blocks for the third time this season.
- Individually, Taylor Gallart finished with six total blocks, while Taylor Wickey finished with seven.
Up Next
- The Knights head to Cincinnati to take on the American Athletic Conference preseason favorites on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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