ALBANY, N.Y. – The UCF volleyball team cruised past Syracuse in straight sets (25-8, 25-9, 25-14) on Saturday afternoon at the Albany Capital Center to earn its second win of the season.
The Knights (2-0) recorded a .473 team attacking percentage for the match, which is ranked 11th in program history just behind a .485 against FAU during the 2021 season. UCF put down 39 kills on 74 attempts with only four attacking errors while limiting the Orange (0-3) to a .030 clip for the match.
“Our goal for this match was to play clean and sharpen up our discipline,” said head coach Jenny Maurer. “I think we did just that. We did an excellent job of limiting our errors while maintaining consistency even with the introduction of new Knights to the lineup.”
The Knights went on a 9-0 spurt ignited by a kill from Avah Armour following an ace from Syracuse to start the match off. UCF created the momentum to give them a 12-point cushion at 16-4 with a kill from Emily Wilson. The Black and Gold went on a 6-0 run to polish off set one 25-8 with a Syracuse attack error, as the Knights recorded a .765 attacking percentage in the opening set with 13 kills on 17 attempts with no attacking errors.
UCF came out with the energy early in the second set with back-to-back kills from Armour and Claudia Dillon. Syracuse knotted the score at 3-3 but a Syracuse service error sparked a 7-0 scoring run with Armour serving for the Knights. UCF led from that point in the set, as Abby Hansen and Emily Wilson tallied four kills each to give the Knights a 25-9 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
UCF started the third set strong, jumping out to a 5-1 lead following a kill from Wilson and a Syracuse ball-handling error. A 6-1 run gave the Knights a 15-4 advantage and the squad went on to win the set 25-14 with a kill from Lauren Clark.
Abby Hansen led UCF with a game-high 11 kills. Wilson tallied 10 kills, while Armour helped the offense with seven kills and posted a .636 hitting percentage.
Abby Schomers led all players in the match with 30 assists while adding six digs. Armour recorded a game-high nine digs.
The Knights will round out the UAlbany Volleyball Classic on Sunday, August 27 as they face UAlbany at 1 p.m.