ORLANDO – The UCF volleyball team (7-0, 1-0) continued its perfect start to the season on Friday with a 3-0 sweep over Temple (5-2, 1-2) in Philadelphia, Pa. The win moved the Knights to 7-0 on the season, tying their best start since 2010 when UCF was a part of Conference USA.
The match kicked off the Knights' conference portion of their schedule. After another match with Temple on Friday, UCF will have six matches remaining with three other American Athletic Conference opponents in ECU, Cincinnati and South Florida.
Despite the final score, it was by no means an easy victory for coach Dagenais and company.
"We got down at times, but stayed resilient and tied it up, then went down again, but we never panicked. We executed and allowed our defense to play strong enough to give our offense time to score points," said Dagenais. "Coming up here with the flight, the weather, having to follow the COVID protocols, it was all a challenge for our players, yet they put all of that behind them when it came time to play and they stepped on the floor and just grinded it out."
Set one started off close until the Owls went on a 10-2 run to take a 20-15 lead over the Knights late, but UCF never faltered, answering right back with a 4-0 run before Temple called time to try to slow the momentum. Following the timeout, the Knights scored another four unanswered to go up 23-20, and a couple of clutch kills later, the Knights secured the first set victory, 25-22.
Temple once again found themselves in control early in the second set, going up 11-8 before the Knights began to turn things around. Over the next eight points, UCF outscored the Owls 7-1, giving the Knights a 15-12 lead, but Temple wasn't done as they again went on a solid run to go up 21-18 late and the Knights were forced to call timeout.
When play resumed in the second set, UCF was able to tie it up at 24. From there, the two sides continued to trade blows. Temple went up 25-24 before UCF tied it up at 25. Then the Owls went up 26-25 before another defensive stop from UCF helped the Knights tie it at 26. Finally, with two straight kills from McKenna Melville, UCF was able to take the next two points and win the set, 28-26.
The final set was a nailbiter as well. While close, the Knights had the slight advantage halfway through with a 15-12 lead following a service ace from sophomore Dresden Pass, forcing a Temple timeout. Following the stoppage, the Owls began to mount a comeback, eventually tying the set at 20, but the Knights finished off strong to take the set, 25-23 and secure the sweep over the Owls.
The UCF defense was the MVP of the match as it consistently allowed the Knights to regain momentum in their comeback efforts. In total, the Knights finished with a season-high 60 digs and 13 total blocks.
Middle blocker Kathryn Wesolich was right in the heart of most of UCF's key defensive plays, coming up with a couple of momentous blocks in the match during key situations for the Knights. Wesolich finished the day with eight block assists to go along with six kills. Wesolich was efficient in her attacks, hitting at a team-high .667 percent.
DAGENAIS DIALOUGE:
[On the win]
"We got down at times, but stayed resilient and tied it up, then went down again, but we never panicked. We executed and allowed our defense to play strong enough to give our offense time to score points. Offensively today, we weren't great. Hitting wise, we weren't great, but we don't have to be all the time. We have to serve well, block and play great defense, and then hope our offense can finish off points… coming up here with the flight, the weather, having to follow the COVID protocols, it was all a challenge for our players, yet they put all of that behind them when it came time to play and they stepped on the floor and just grinded it out.
[On how the team pulled off the comebacks]
"We just talked about patience first because a lot of times, teams will try to get all those points back all at once, but you can't do that. So, we talked about patience, we talked about how we were going to execute, and we ended up getting a couple of timely blocks, and before we knew it, we were right back into the set. There really is no magic formula for pulling off a comeback other than just executing and working your way back into it slowly. In this conference, we won 3-0 today, but we just as easily could have lost 3-0. That's what can happen in conference play, especially when you're on the road."
[On preparing for a second match with Temple]
"We know that Temple is going to bring it tomorrow, and so we are going to have to figure out ways to unleash our offense a little bit more. The last couple of matches, our offense hasn't been great. We started off really hot, but you don't always play great offense on the road. So, we are going to have to continue our great defensive play and play some better offense as well."
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