TAMPA, Fla.— The No. 24 UCF volleyball team (22-1, 14-1) completed a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-18, 25-8) over South Florida (9-16, 3-10) on Wednesday night in the Yuengling Center.
"I thought our athletes did a really good job at keeping their composure," said UCF head coach Todd Dagenais. "This was about as perfect of a match we could've played. This was a solid top to the bottom, tactical reading type of game that you would want as a head coach this late in the season."
"It was great to be able to put Renee Ralls in for the first action of her college career and then to see her get an ace. The team basically broke the barrier going onto the floor to celebrate her. That was a very organic response to somebody having success in a big match. It was one of the most memorable moments in my college career to see her get that ace."
The Knights started out hot and went on several scoring runs throughout set one. UCF dominated with only one error, while capitalizing on the seven errors from USF. The Knights pulled out with a 25-13 set win.
Kari Zumach led off the second set with back-to-back kills to ignite the Knights to go on a 4-0 scoring run. The Knights were able to hold the Bulls to take set two 25-18.
The Bulls started out with the lead for the first time the entire match, but the Knights took it back with a kill from McKenna Melville. UCF went on three 4-0 scoring runs in set three to take the match 25-8.
Melville led the Knights with 13 kills on 25 swings for an attacking percentage of .440. The Eagan, Minnesota native added in eight digs on the defensive side.
Zumach recorded eight kills on the night. Heidi Bonde tallied up a stellar attacking percentage of .750 with six kills.
One the defensive side, Amber Olson led with nine digs adding in 24 assists. Abby Hansen and Olson each recorded four blocks.
UCF will host Cincinnati on Sunday with first serve slated for 1 p.m.
