ORLANDO, Fla. – In a Halloween special, the UCF volleyball team (18-6, 11-1) was scary good in the sweep over Wichita State (14-7, 8-4) at The Venue on Sunday with scores of 25-11, 25-14, 25-17.
The Knights also put an end to the Shockers' eight-game win streak.
"I didn't expect that," head coach Todd Dagenais said, "They were the hottest team in the league with winning eight in a row.
I've been preaching to the team that I don't want them to wait for a team to lose, I want them to go out and win. I think this weekend, we went out and won both matches."
McKenna Melville continues to dominate as she picked up 18 kills, zero errors, to hit .667. Claudia Dillon notched eight kills, hit .500, and put up six blocks. Anne-Marie Watson was also a brick wall with her six blocks while adding six kills to hit .417. Tali Marmen also hit well with .312 on six kills.
Amber Olson set well all match to get 37 assists on a team 43 kills. Chloe Scheer led with 11 digs and two aces.
It was all the Knights right from the start as they led 8-1 in the first set. They used multiple of runs to pull away without a second glance to lead 21-9. Olson served up an ace to close out the first set on a 4-0 run to win 25-11.
The second set was much of the same. What was once 7-4, quickly turned to 12-4 with a big 5-0 run from the Knights. UCF made very little mistakes as they ran away with the second set by a score of 25-14 to lead 2-0, heading into the third set.
UCF took the first three points of the third to set the tone of the third set. The Shockers came within two at 7-5, but that was as close as they would get. The Knights walked away to take the third set in 25-17 to dominate their way to another 3-0 win.
The Knights hit a season-best .487 and held the Shockers to .087.
UCF extends its winning streak to seven with six-straight sweeps.
TODD'S THOUGHTS
[On what's happening in a timeout]
I think it is important that the team doesn't hear too many voices. I might point something out that I see, but typically Jenny coaches the offensive and Brian coaches the defense and serve. It's really about strategy when the opponents call a timeout. When we call a timeout, Jenny is getting an offensive set up. I don't speak much during timeouts other than a few encouraging words, but I let the coaches coach because they are awesome at it.
[On the team having fun]
I think it comes from confidence of knowing they've been practicing well. It's fun to go out there and execute that well and put that many points on the board. They enjoy playing for each other and enjoy playing well.
UP NEXT
UCF will make its way north to play at Cincinnati on Friday, November 5, and at East Carolina on Sunday, November 7.
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