ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – UCF (5-1) capped off a perfect weekend on Sunday by taking down Kansas (3-2) in three sets (25-15, 25-21, 25-15). The victory marked the fifth on the season for the Knights, including a perfect, 3-0 weekend against opponents at the UCF Challenge.
Anne-Marie Watson started the scoring off in the first set of the night with a kill, with the assist coming from Makenzie Kuchmaner, to put the Knights up 1-0. The Black and Gold continued to build momentum from there, forcing Kansas to use both of their timeouts before either side reach 20 points. UCF finished the set the same way they started it, as Watson got a kill to secure the 25-15 win.
"By far, this has been our most complete match of the year," UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said. "I thought that the previous five matches before this, there was always a part of the game where we struggled. We didn't play perfect by far and we are far from being the team that we want to be, but it was a huge step in the right direction."
Kansas put up a fight in the second set, and the Knights trailed behind for most of it, being down seven points before rallying for a comeback. Down 16-19, the Knights went on a five-point run to come back and take the 21-19 lead. UCF went on to win the second set, 25-21.
UCF finished strong in the final set, putting the exclamation point on the weekend with a 25-15 win to take the match.
Kristina Fisher led the offense for the Knights in the contest, turning in 13 kills and hitting at a .440 clip. MaKenzie Chambers was also a large contributor on the night, posting 11 kills and two block assists.
Erin Olson had 12 digs in the contest, bringing her total on the weekend to 36. Between Erin and her sister, Amber Olson, the pair combined for 108 assists in the tournament.
Three Knights earned All-Tournament honors for their efforts over the weekend, including Watson, Chambers and Fisher, who was also named Tournament MVP. Watson was second on the team in kills over the weekend with 31, good for a .279 hitting percentage. Chambers had 29 kills of her own and was second on the team with a .333 hitting percentage. Fisher turned in an all-around performance over the weekend for the Knights, posting 21 kills to go along with 27 digs and two assists.
The victory marked the fourth of the season for the Knights. They will face off against Marquette (5-1) on Friday, September 13, at 4:30 pm ET at the Redbird Classic hosted by Illinois State.
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TODD'S THOUGHTS:
On the team's performance:
"Defensively I thought we were really solid, holding a really good Kansas team to [a .134 hitting percentage]. Offensively, [Associate head coach Jenny Maurer's] plan worked to perfection. To be able to hit over .330, that is a huge number to be able to hit against a team like that."
On the weekend success of the team in the tournament:
"We always talk about winning championships, and today was an opportunity to win a championship – to win a championship of a tournament. I think that winning a championship is a mindset; it is something that you have to go into days winning. Sometimes, winning a championship is winning a road, Sunday match. So, having the mentality on this team… we put ourselves in a position to win all the little championships, so we can start winning some bigger ones."
On the Redbird Classic:
"Next week, we play Illinois State, who is expected to win their conference, Illinois, who has a great chance to win the Big Ten, and Marquette, who I think is the most underrated team in the country at thirteen. That's possibly two top-opponents, plus a tough home team to beat. This is going to be the hardest weekend that we have had in the eleven years that I have been here."
NEXT UP
The Knights return to action on Friday, September 13 as they will face off against Marquette at 5:30 pm ET in the Redbird Classic hosted by Illinois State. They will then play Illinois and Illinois State on Saturday to wrap up their weekend.
