WICHITA, Kan.— The Knights kept the 11-0 streak rolling with a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-16, 25-8) over Tulsa (9-6) Friday night inside Charles Koch Arena. Originally scheduled to be a home match for UCF, the match was moved to Wichita State due to Hurricane Ian impacting the Orlando area..
"Tulsa is a tough team to beat, they dig a lot of balls and you don't see them making a lot of errors," said UCF Head Coach Todd Dagenais. "As a team we only made six errors, which is a big improvement for us. Everyone has had a rough 48 hours and knowing that people are still suffering back home is heavy on our mind, but for us to go through that and still come out with a win shows the mental toughness and resilience that our team has.
"I'm so grateful for Wichita State allowing us to use their facilities for the matches this weekend and for Tulsa agreeing to drive down."
In set one, the Knights started out hot and kept it rolling throughout the set. McKenna Melville ended set one with six kills.
Set two was tightly contested with Tulsa starting the set on a 2-0 run. After multiple ties, UCF tied it up 8-8 and went on a 5-0 scoring run. Emily Wilson stepped up big for the Knights to bring the momentum back to the team.
"Emily did a good job coming off the bench and helping us gain back momentum," Dagenais added. "Especially with stepping up and doing a great job at ball handling, defense and attacking."
In set three, the Black and Gold went on multiple scoring runs to secure the sweep and another conference win.
Melville recorded a double-double with 23 kills and 12 digs, headlined by a .523 hitting percentage.
Abby Hansen helped out the offense with eight kills and two blocks.
Claudia Dillon was a brick wall at the net with a total of four block assists along with seven kills.
The Knights will stay in Wichita for another conference matchup against Wichita State on Sunday, Oct. 2 with game time slated for 2 p.m.