ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com)— The UCF Volleyball team recorded its 10th sweep of the season with a 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-20) victory over East Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
"This was a really tremendous effort by our group," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "East Carolina continues to be one of the hard-nose, scrappiest, never say die teams in our conference. I give them a lot of credit for the fire and passion they bring to the floor. I thought today was one of those days where we weren't really good, but we were good enough in certain areas to win a match. Offensively we did what we needed to do. The one thing that stands out to me, that I was really proud of was hanging with and producing more digs than them."
The Knights (18-7, 8-4 AAC) started the match a little slow, trailing 5-1. The team got their feet under them and went on and battled back taking a 10-9 lead on a Taylor Wickey kill. UCF and ECU battled back and forth, each team pulling ahead multiple times. The Knights took a 23-22 lead, but the Pirates came back and took a 24-23 lead. The Black and Gold went on a 4-1 run, clinching the first set with a Jalé Hervey kill.
The Knights took the lead early in the second set. ECU tied the score four times, but UCF held them off each time. The Black and Gold secured the second set with an attacking error on the Pirates. Following the break, East Carolina jumped out to a 5-1 lead before the Knights fought back and taking a 10-9 lead with a Miranda Watkins ace. UCF never looked back and clinched the match decisively with a Kia Bright kill.
Defensive Divas
- Every UCF player, who competed in the match, recorded at least one dig.
- Sophomore Jordan Pingel passed 21 digs, followed by senior Jalé Hervey with 13. Redshirt junior Kia Bright also made 10 digs.
Above and Beyond
- Three Knights hit above .300 in the victory.
- Hervey led the team hitting .372 followed by redshirt junior Taylor Wickey hitting at a .364 clip. Freshman Alli Sabol posted a .304 hitting percentage.
On the Weekend
- Hervey led the team with 42 kills, hitting at a .330 clip and averaging 5.25 kills per set over the two matches. The senior also posted 30 digs, averaging 3.75 digs per set.
- Pingel tallied a record weekend, making 52 digs and averaging 6.50 digs per set. The Colorado Springs, Colo., native also recorded 13 assists, averaging 1.62 assists per set. The libero recorded a career-high nine assists against Cincinnati.
Up Next
- The Knights, who are presented by Holiday Inn Orlando East UCF Area, go on the road for their second War on I4 match. UCF takes on USF on Wednesday at 7 p.m., in Tampa.
- The Black and Gold follows that up with a Sunday game in Memphis.
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