ORLANDO - The UCF Volleyball team is getting another new member as the team announced the addition of transfer Arianna Arjomand to the roster on Saturday.
Arjomand, an Orlando native, comes to UCF from within the conference as she spent the 2019 season at Wichita State. She will be a sophomore in 2020 and is a Libero/Defensive Specialist by trade.
"It's a unique opportunity to add a student-athlete who is extremely familiar with your conference and your program," said UCF Volleyball head coach Todd Dagenais. "Getting a starting Libero at a fellow conference institution is priceless as she adds to the depth of our back court."
As a freshman in 2019, Arjomand played in 25 matches and 79 sets. She tallied 192 digs to go along with nine aces and 32 assists. Arjomand compiled a season-high 25 digs against Tulane Oct. 13 and averaged 2.43 digs, 0.41 assists and 0.11 service aces per set on the year. She was also selected to The American Weekly Honor Roll for the week of Oct. 14-20. In high school, she helped her team to a state championship in 2017.
Arjomand will play a key role in the defensive unit, helping to fill the void left by graduating Libero Makenzie Kuchmaner, who started all but one game for the Knights in 2019. Prior to Kuchmaner, UCF great Jordan Pingel held down the Libero role for four seasons from 2015-2018.
"Arjomand played extremely well both times we played against Wichita State last season, so we know she has the ability to compete against the top teams in the conference and in the nation," said Dagenais. "Our success is predicated on our ability to handle the ball and run our offense quickly. She adds to a very high-level group of student-athletes who are very competent in handling the ball in serve receive and defense."
She will have an opportunity to immediately compete for playing time in any of the defensive roles. I cannot thank Paul Kilgas and the UCF compliance department enough for the hard work they put in to making sure that Ariana could be eligible immediately."