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.
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news.
Season and single game tickets are on sale now. Season tickets are available starting at $15, and single game tickets start at just $4. Click here more information, or call 407-UCF-1000.