UCF vs. Cincinnati | UCF vs. ECU |
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF Volleyball team (9-5) continues conference play this weekend as they take on Cincinnati (10-4) Friday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. ET, followed by East Carolina (12-3) Sunday at noon. The match against Cincinnati will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.
692 AND COUNTING
It has been 692 days since the Knights began their current 26 game conference winning streak, beginning on November 10, 2017. In that time, UCF has outscored its opponents 78 sets to 20.
The Knights are coming off a 2018 season in which they went undefeated in conference play, going 18-0 in The American to win the conference crown, becoming just the third team in The American's history to go undefeated in conference play.
"Every year, this weekend is considered the most challenging road trip for a lot of different reasons," said UCF Volleyball Head Coach Todd Dagenais. "Part of it is the travel, part of it is the time of year, and of course part of it is the competition."
Through the first five weekends of play, UCF is off to a 9-5 start and lead The American in blocks per set (2.98) and are top-three in hitting percentage (.255) assists per set (12.91) and kills per set (13.72).
McKenna Melville is number two in the conference with 4.22 kills per set, trailing only Cincinnati's Jordan Thompson (5.84). Meanwhile, middle blocker Nerissa Moravec sits at second in The American in blocks per set with 1.37 while Anne-Marie Watson sits fourth overall with 1.26.
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THE FIELD
Cincinnati
The Knights kick off their three-game road trip against Cincinnati, who is 10-4, including coming off a 2-0 weekend with wins over ECU and Wichita State. The Bearcats are led offensively by Redshirt Senior Jordan Thompson, who is boasting 5.84 kills per set so far in 2019 and is the all-time leader in kills at Cincinnati. UCF is 10-4 all-time against Cincinnati, with their last loss coming two seasons ago.
ECU
ECU is 12-3 at the start of conference play. The Pirates have four sweeps on the season so far, compared to UCF's six. After starting the season with 12 wins, ECU fell to Cincinnati and Tulsa to begin conference play last weekend. ECU is returning home to Greenville, where they have proven to be a tough matchup as they boast an undefeated home record of 5-0. UCF is going into this trip with an away record of 1-1 and are 17-10 all-time against the Pirates.
DAGENAIS DIALOUGE
On facing Cincinnati:
"[Cincinnati] features the greatest player to ever play in The American Athletic Conference in Jordan Thompson. At the end of this year, she will set every single conference record possible and she will be the best player ever to come out of this conference. And it would be one thing if that's all they had was Thompson, but they don't. They have players around her… they have players that are hitting three-hundred and four-hundred, so it's not like you can overload your resources on just one person, so they are a lot better than they were last year and I think they are going to be a lot tougher. It will be as tough as a task as we will face all year."
On facing East Carolina:
"Last year, they were just young. Now, they are a year older, a year wiser, a year more experienced. They know the game so much better now and are lower err. They play with hunger. They play with passion. They play with everything you would want your team to play with. They play a completely different style than Cincinnati, so it is not like you get to prepare for two teams at once. They are two different teams. Their record is legit, and when they play well, they play as well as anyone in the conference. So, we are going to have to have a quick turnaround and prepare ourselves to go out there and compete against a team that is hungry for conference wins."
On the depth of the team at this point in the season:
"With [Kathryn Wesolich] being out last week, [Lache Harper] took advantage of the opportunity to be on the floor to show how much she has improved. It is nice to have three starting middles because that is the most exhausting position on the court, and to be able to mix and match three middles at will is a great thing for our team. Also, Dresi Pass and Amber Olson are very close. I don't know which setter we will go with this weekend… again, it is another one of those positions where we can mix and match based on the opponents and what we need. I think having three is going to be a big benefit to us."
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