ORLANDO — On the eve of its first Big 12 Conference matchup, the UCF volleyball team travels to Cincinnati to kick off Big 12 play. The Knights and Bearcats are familiar conference foes, as they both moved from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12 Conference on July 1.
The Matchup
- Big 12 play commences, as the Knights take on Cincinnati Sept. 21 and 22 at 6 p.m. inside Fifth Third Arena.
- The Knights have a 16-8 record against the Bearcats with the last matchup a 3-0 sweep on November 13, 2022, in The Venue.
- UCF and Cincinnati are among the top serving teams in the country, as UCF leads the conferece with 2.56 and Cincinnati is second with 1.79 aces per set.
Scouting Cincinnati
- The Bearcats boast a 7-3 record in non-conference play.
- Head Coach Molly Alvey is in her 12th season with the Bearcats with a 182-158 record.
- Cincinnati returned nine players along with four starters from last season.
- Both teams played Alabama State this season and came away with a 3-0 win over the Hornets.
- The Bearcats are coming off a win against Wright State (9/16) with a final score of 3-1.
Ace it up
- UCF is currently ranked No. 2 in the NCAA for aces per set with an average of 2.56 per set.
- Two Knights are ranked in the top 50 for service aces, including Emily Wilson (24th) and Claudia Dillon (48th).
- Against North Texas, the Knights tallied a season-high 15 aces.
Ace Queen
- Wilson is ranked No. 1 in service aces per set (0.56) and total service aces (23) in the Big 12 standings.
- In the most recent matchup against Illinois, Wilson recorded a career-high five service aces in the 3-2 win.
5-0 Start
- Headlined by a 5-0 start, head coach Jenny Maurer becomes the first UCF head coach in the DI Era to start the season 5-0 in their first season as head coach.
- Three Knights were named to the UAlbany All-Tournament Team: Abby Hansen (MVP), Abby Schomers and Avah Armour.
- Claudia Dillon earned the All-Tournament team for the UCF Challenge.
The Jenny Maurer Era
- Jenny Maurer was named head coach of UCF volleyball in May 2023.
- She is no stranger to UCF as she has been a member of the coaching staff since 2016.
- Her resume includes nine years as a Division I head coach --Lehigh (4) and Bradley (5).
- Two-time DIII National Champion (1995 and 1996) as a player at Washington University in St. Louis.
Rounding Out The Staff
- Maurer added two associate head coaches to her staff along with a volunteer assistant.
- Jason Tanaka, 25-year collegiate coaching veteran with Big 12 experience (Baylor, TCU).
- Michaela Franklin, former Big 12 volleyball champion (Kansas State) and nationally recognized recruiter.
- Tyler Hubbard-Neil, former professional volleyball player joins the staff as a volunteer assistant.
- Erin Olson stays on the staff as the Director of Operations.
Calling All Newbies
- The Knights have added a total of seven newcomers to the roster.
- Four of those are freshmen and the other three are transfers.
- The freshmen include Avah Armour, Annika Sokol, Sasha Cohen and Doga Ocal.
- Three out of the four freshmen are from Colorado and Ocal is from Turkey.
- The transfer trio includes Lauren Clark (FGCU/ Penn State), Britt Carlson (Washington State) and Megan Holland (South Carolina).
Bringing ‘Em Back
- The Knights return eight from the previous season.
- Key returners for UCF include Abby Hansen, Claudia Dillon, Chloe Scheer, Emily Wilson, Katelyn Grimes and Heidi Bonde who all saw playing time last year.
Five Peat AAC Champions
- UCF volleyball ends an era in the American with five consecutive championships.
- The Knights started their inaugural season in the American in 2013 and ended in 2023 accounting for 11 overall championship titles.
New Kids On The Block
- UCF officially joined the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023.
- The Knights enter the Power 5 as the youngest school, having been founded in 1963 to supply NASA with engineers.
- UCF joins the conference with Cincinnati, Houston and BYU to push the conference to 13 volleyball programs.
- The Black and Gold are 38-36 against current Big 12 schools. The Knights were ranked No. 9 in the Big 12 preseason poll.
- In the AVCA poll the Knights are one of eight Big 12 schools that are ranked or receiving votes.
Knights In The Rankings
- UCF is ranked in three categories in the top 10 of the NCAA.
- 2nd: 2.56 aces per set
- 5th: 105 team service aces
- 7th: 0.308 hitting %
European Tour
- UCF enjoyed a successful foreign tour this summer after visiting the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy playing six matches against international opponents.
- Traveling from Orlando to Czech Republic, the team began its trip in Prague, walking around Old Town and the city.
- While in Prague, the Knights played back-to-back matches against the Czech national team.
- A short trip to Brno, where UCF played the U22 Brno team along with touring in the downtown area.
- Sightseeing in Budapest featured the Buda Castle, the Parliament building and the Danube.
- Kicking off its time in Maribor, UCF held a clinic for about 30 youth, presenting a further opportunity to get to know the local people and share some of the team’s volleyball knowledge and skills.
- Outside of the team’s two matches in Slovenia, the Knights rode a ski lift up part of the mountain to ride the alpine slide down the mountain and went for a bike ride to the city center of Maribor. For dinner, the team took a gondola up Pohorje Mountain on top of the mountain.
- UCF took a pit stop in Lake Bled, Slovenia for a few hours on the way to Italy which included a gondola ride to the church in the middle of the lake, swimming and enjoying the famous Lake Bled cake.
- Once in Italy, the Black and Gold checked out the amenities at the resort which included multiple pools and a hot spring. The team concluded their trip in Venice with a full day of sightseeing.
Home Court Advantage
- UCF reached a 22-match home win streak from Oct. 10, 2021 – Sept. 2, 2023.
- The Knights boasted a 13-0 record at home in 2022.
- UCF has only lost four games at home in the past three seasons.
- In 2022, the Black and Gold won the AAC Championship at home in a five-set thriller against Houston for a share of the championship title.
- With the move into the Big 12, season tickets have been selling like crazy.
- The Knights have sold a record number of season tickets.
2022 Season Recap
- The Knights were once again among the best in the nation in 2022, finishing the season with a 28-2. overall record, going 19-1 in conference play.
- UCF made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third time under former head coach Todd Dagenais after defeating Yale 3-0 in UCF’s first sweep in NCAA Tournament play.
- The 2022 squad was led by McKenna Melville, Abby Hansen, Amber Olson and Claudia Dillon.
- Each received the honor of being named First Team All-Conference for their efforts throughout the 2022 season.
- The award marked Melville’s fifth consecutive and third for Player of the Year.
- Olson was also tabbed Setter of the Year for the second year in a row.
- Kari Zumach earned Second Team All-Conference for her offensive efforts.