ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF volleyball team opens American Athletic Conference action at home this weekend with matches against ECU on Friday at 7 p.m. and Cincinnati on Sunday at 1 p.m. in The Venue.
The first 100 students through the gates on Friday will receive a free UCF flag. New to The Venue this season is student seating around the perimeter of the court.
"It's a brand new season for us," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "It's an opportunity to be 0-0 again. We like to break conference play down into 10 mini seasons, and we want to get as many sweeps as possible during those seasons. I'm expecting that we're going to get the best from ECU and Cincinnati this weekend. It's going to be a challenging start to conference play.
"We're going to have to execute against a team that just scraps in ECU. Then, we have to turn around to face a team with a lot of pride in Cincinnati, who knows that they are way better than what their record says."
LAST TIME OUT
• The Knights (7-5) swept Virginia twice in the VolleyKnights Invitational to open up play at The Venue after a 10-match road swing to start the year.
• UCF thoroughly dominated the Cavaliers, averaging a .360 hitting percentage on the weekend, while limiting the visitors to a .163 clip.
• At the conclusion of the non-conference season, redshirt senior Taylor Wickey was atop of the conference in attack percentage at .418, after hitting .737 last weekend.
KIA OFFENSE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Kia Bright was named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career.
• The redshirt senior led the way offensively for the Black and Gold with 3.67 kills per set from a .340 clip at the net, in addition to 4.83 digs per set.
• Bright is 22 digs away from becoming the fifth player in UCF history to record 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career.
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE
• A staple of the 2017 UCF volleyball team has been defense. Opponents have struggled to find consistency in the attack. Only one team has hit above .250 against the Knights this season and the last nine opponents have failed to hit above .200.
• The Black and Gold is averaging 2.17 blocks per set, led by Wickey at 0.98 per set.
• Libero Jordan Pingel ranks eighth in the AAC with a team-high 4.04 digs per set.
SCOUTING ECU
• The Pirates (8-4) open AAC play after sweeping N.C. Central and North Carolina A&T in a doubleheader on Tuesday.
• ECU boasts the second best opponent hitting percentage in the conference and 26th in the country at .150.
• Lael Ceriani has powered the offense with 3.17 kills per set, good for fourth in the AAC, while a trio of players are hitting above .275.
SCOUTING CINCINNIATI
• The Bearcats (2-10) struggled through the non-conference season as 2016 AAC Player of the Year Jordan Thompson was sidelined due to injury.
• Cincinnati topped Xavier on the road and Milwaukee at home for its two wins on the year.
• Carly Nolan has picked up the slack with 4.09 kills per set as the top offensive performer, and Jasmine Jones has blocked 1.17 balls per set to rank sixth in the league.
SERIES HISTORIES
• UCF holds a 14-9 advantage over ECU, including a 5-1 mark in AAC play. The Knights defeated the Pirates 3-1 in Greenville, N.C., and swept ECU in The Venue last season.
• The tightly contested rivalry between the Knights and the Bearcats will be renewed on Sunday. UCF has a slight edge over Cincinnati at 6-5, but the series stands at 4-4 in the American Athletic Conference.
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