ORLANDO - In the first War on I-4 game of the season, the UCF volleyball team completed a 3-0 sweep (25-14, 26-24, 25-10) over USF Wednesday night in the Venue.
"All in all, we did a good job for this rivalry match," said UCF Head Coach Todd Dagenais. "We served well with power and lined up our blocks. South Florida did a good job at blocking McKenna, but she still made her presence known with her passing and blocking. That forced us to go to other people and fortunately for us, we were able to have others step up on the offensive side.
"I've said all along our goal isn't to have McKenna hit all 60 balls, we want to spread it out and tonight we did good at that. Amber did a great job of distributing the ball with reading what South Florida was trying to take away."
Coming back after defeating ECU last Sunday, the Knights came out strong, taking a swift 10-2 lead in the first set. The offense was quickly putting the ball away, with kills from McKenna Melville and Kari Zumach, assisted by five errors from the Bulls. Both Claudia Dillon and Zumach dominated with a 1.000 kill percentage through the first set, highlighting a strong offensive game from the Knights.
South Florida was able to tighten up its side in the second set, keeping the game close throughout. There were 17 ties in the set, the only ties in the game. Dillon continued to dominate from the middle, earning a .429 kill percentage and coming up with some big blocks to help out the defense.
The Knights returned to their previous set form in the third, going on another 10-2 run to start the set. The team's serve was on fire, earning three aces and no errors. Chloe Scheer earned a match-high six digs, while the team also recorded a match-high 21 digs in the set. UCF was able to shut down South Florida 25-10 to take the third set and the match.
The team continued to hit individual milestones with Amber Olson earning her 1,000 career dig. Melville also hit another milestone with her 2,300 career kill, one of only 21 Division I players to achieve this record.
This win marks the 19th-straight win over the Bulls, not having dropped a match since 2012. It also improves UCF's season record to 16-1, and the Knights fourth sweep in a row.
UCF is back on the road Friday, as its travels to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats at 6 pm.
