ORLANDO - The No. 23 UCF volleyball team will close out its 2022 regular season at home on Friday for Senior Knight, where they will take on No. 22 Houston at The Venue. The game will begin at 5 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
UCF swept Tulane on Wednesday night in the Venue to kickoff the homestand, improving its season to 26-1 overall and 18-1 in conference play and secured its 14th straight victory. The win over the Green Wave marked the Knights sixth consecutive sweep, tying the season record of six from Sept. 6 at Kansas to Oct. 2 at Wichita State. UCF's current streak began on Nov. 6 against Memphis.
Numerous milestones were hit for the Black and Gold on Wednesday. Most notably, McKenna Melville entered the NCAA Top-10 All-Time kills list, with 2,500 kills, becoming just the 10th player in NCAA DI history to reach this mark. Amber Olson also had a huge milestone night, notching her 3,800th career assist.
Melville also had an incredible defensive night against Tulane, as she was the team leader in digs with 13. She became the fourth Knight in program history to reach 1,600 career digs. Chloe Scheer was not too far behind her, with 12 digs and one assist for the night.
Abby Hansen, the conference's leader in hitting percentage, continued to show both aggression and consistency, earning 9 kills on 13 attempts and no errors, a .692 hitting percentage.
This will be the second matchup between the Knights and the Cougars of the 2022 season. Houston took the first match in four sets back in early October at Houston. The all-time series record is tied 13-13, with the Cougars holding the advantage at the Venue, winning six out of the 11 games played there.
Houston is undefeated in conference play (19-0) but suffered two losses in non-conference play to both Rice and No. 1 Texas. With their four-set win over USF on Wednesday night, Houston was able to clinch at least a share of the AAC championship.
Below are the scenarios for who will take the AAC Championship, depending on the outcome of the match:
If Houston wins out entirely, Houston sole title.
If UCF wins out to the final game and Houston wins out to South Florida then loses to UCF in five sets, split title, Houston claims auto-bid via set-differential tiebreaker (Houston 5, UCF 4).
If UCF wins out to the final game and Houston wins out to South Florida then loses to UCF in three sets, split title, UCF claims auto-bid via set-differential tiebreaker (UCF 4, Houston 3).
If UCF wins out to the final game and Houston wins out to South Florida then loses to UCF in four sets, split title, then the tiebreaker is point differential against Houston (which currently is +4 Houston). If point differential ends up tied, then the next tiebreaker is record vs. highest common league opponent, which would keep it tied. Then it's record vs. all DI opponents, where UCF would have the edge.
THOUGHTS WITH TODD:
As expected, this is going to come down to the two top teams in the conference. It's for that opportunity to win the trophy. Looking back at the first matchup it was really decided by just four points. We need fans to come out, if this is your first volleyball match, now is your best time. You will be watching the two best teams in the conference facing off of each other. They are the team to beat as they are loaded with graduates and seniors, not much different than us. They handle the ball extremely well. But looking back at the last match you go through and look at the little things especially losing by four points that just sticks with you. Fans and the volleyball world will be treated to a magnificent matchup with two top 25 teams. You're going to see two teams playing the most important match this season, as well as seeing the intensity and the tension. It's going to come down to who plays the big points well.
