CINCINNATI, Ohio. (UCFKnights.com) – The Knights (9-6, 2-1) fell to conference foe Cincinnati (11-4, 3-0) in three sets (19-25, 24-26, 20-25) Friday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. The loss marked the first in conference play for UCF in almost 700 days, snapping a 26-game conference winning streak dating back to 2017.
"I thought we came out timid and unsure of ourselves, but I thought we settled in and performed at the level that we expect to perform at and I thought we started to execute at that level as the match went on." UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said. "They have a weapon [in Jordan Thompson]. They have a weapon that they can just decide when they want to end a point, and they used that weapon… if we want to be a conference champion, we can't look across the net and have any doubt about who we are, what we stand for, and what we are able to accomplish. Now, we have to put it together, get on an airplane and play an ECU team that is going to be just as hungry to beat us, and we are going to have to decide who we are and what we are going to do about it."
McKenzie Chambers hit .400 for five kills while McKenna Melville led the squad with 10 kills in the match. Defensively, Makenzie Kuchmaner led both sides with 13 digs while Nerissa Moravec and Anne-Marie Watson each led the way with 3.00 blocks per set.
The loss marked the first conference loss of the year for the Knights, moving them to 2-1 in conference and 9-6 on the season. They will continue conference action on Sunday, October 6, as they travel to North Carolina for their second road conference match of the season. The match is slated to start at 12:00 p.m. ET.
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FIRST SET
The Knights fell behind early against Cincinnati in the first set, going down 6-2 to start things off. UCF kept things close, coming back to cut the deficit 8-7 and eventually 22-19, but the Bearcats never relinquished the lead as they went on to claim the first set, 25-19.
SECOND SET
UCF began the second set out in front and looked to be finding their rhythm as the match continued. A service ace from Lache Harper put the Knights up 15-13, forcing a Cincinnati timeout. Another service ace shortly after from Dresi Pass, UCF's fifth of the day to that point, put the Knights up 20-19. With The Black and Gold ahead 21-19, Cincinnati called a timeout. UCF padded their lead and had the opportunity to finish the set as they were up 24-22, but Cincinnati battled back to take the second set, 26-24.
THIRD SET
The third and final set of the match began with Cincinnati striking first. Up 6-5, they went on a four-point scoring run to make it 10-5, forcing a UCF timeout. The Knights managed to bring the set back to within two points, making it 18-16, but the Bearcats pulled away once more to finish out the third set by a score of 25-20, securing their third set and the match.
DAGENAIS DIALOGUE
On the match:
"The difference between us and them is we would put ourselves in position to execute, and we wouldn't finish the play… They put themselves in position to execute and they did it well, or we made a mistake and bailed them out. If you do that three or four or five times, all of a sudden you have a 21-17 score or something like that. That second set came down to executing one play and we didn't do it. We just didn't execute."
On preparing to play ECU:
"This is a challenge. It is a turning point for us to decide how we are going to play under adversity and how we are going to react to it. Are we going to be the team that we know we can be? Are we going to be the skilled, smart, game-managing, passionate team that we know we can be, or are we going to get into situations where we deviate from what we think is acceptable?"
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UP NEXT
UCF will continue conference action on Sunday, October 6, as they travel to North Carolina for their second road conference match of the season. The match is slated to start at 12:00 p.m. ET.
