GAINESVILLE, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF volleyball team wrapped up its preseason with an exhibition contest at No. 10 Florida on Saturday afternoon in Gainesville.
The Gators won the first two sets, 25-16 and 25-17, but the Knights came back to claim the third set, 25-20. Florida captured the final two sets 25-21 and 15-7 to claim the win at Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
McKenna Melville registered a double-double with a team-high 17 kills and 11 digs. Anne-Marie Watson finished with 11 kills and Kristina Fisher added eight. Makenzie Kuchmaner led the Knights with 24 digs. Erin Olson tallied 19 assists and Dresden Pass finished with 11. Fisher served up a pair of aces. Melville, Kuchmaner, Nerissa Moravec and Kathryn Wesolich each registered an ace in the match.
UCF Head Coach Todd Dagenais Thoughts:
"There's no better way to prepare for the tough schedule that we've assembled than to go on the road and play a top ten nationally ranked team. Florida is already into season form right now and they took advantage of every single mistake that we made.
There's going to be a lot of room for growth for this team when they're playing against this level of competition. It's going to start with getting to work on Monday, looking at video, seeing the areas that we need to improve, making the little changes but growing as a team consistently throughout the season.
There were many highlights of the match – at times on defense, with our serving game, our transition game, but there are also a lot of things that we need to continue to grow into as the weeks progress. It was certainly an opportunity for our players to get a measuring stick of where we are right now and have a vision of where we want to go."
Next up, the Knights will officially open the 2019 season at the Rebel Invitational, hosted by Ole Miss. UCF opens against Iowa State on Aug. 30, followed by matchups against Rice and Ole Miss on Aug. 31 and Sep. 1, respectively.
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