LAWRENCE, Kan. – The UCF volleyball team picked up a huge 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-21) sweep against No. 23 Kansas on Friday night at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
"I thought we came in and handled ourselves very well in a terrific environment," UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said. "It was very loud, it's a great place to play, and it was really fun for us to be able to play in an environment like that. I thought we maintained our composure, I thought we held ourselves together. Other than a couple of small runs here and there, we really never put ourselves in trouble and we always found a way to make the big play. There's a lot of credit to go around for beating such a talented national team like Kansas in Lawrence. That's going to be one of those that's going to help define the season."
The first set was super competitive. There were 11 ties and four lead changes. Every time either team thought they built an insurmountable lead, the other team fired back to tie it.
UCF would ultimately take the set 25-22.
The second set was even tighter. Featuring 17 ties, eight lead changes, and a review where if the call were overturned Kansas would've taken the set, but the Knights battled for a 28-26 win. They fought off three set points to go up two sets to none.
The third set was all UCF. Kansas opened with a 1-0 lead then never led again. The Knights used a 4-0 run to go up 5-2, then a 6-3 run to make it 19-12.
McKenna Melville would top off her huge night with a kill to end it. It was her match-high 23rd of the night. She also added nine digs and six blocks. The Egan, Minnesota, native is now six kills away from setting the UCF career kills record.
Claudia Dillon had a big night as well, putting up nine kills while hitting .667. Amber Olson continued to direct the Knight's offense to success with 39 assists.
The Knights are now 7-0 and will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they play Lipscomb at 1 p.m. ET at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena to wrap up their non-conference slate.