ORLANDO – Coming off of a 2-0 start in Big 12 play UCF volleyball hosts Oklahoma for its Big 12 home opener on Thursday, September 28 and Friday, September 29 with both matches scheduled for 7 p.m. The Knights boasts an 11-2 record heading into the matchup, while the Sooners hold a 6-5 record on the season.
The Matchup
- UCF hosts Oklahoma for its Big 12 home opener weekend on Thursday and Friday.
- The Knights boast a 3-0 record against the Sooners with the last matchup during the 1981 season when matches were scored using rally scoring meaning only the team that possessed the serve could score a point. Sets at this time were played to 15 points instead of 25, but matches could stretch on for hours at a time.
- Due to Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 next year for the SEC, this will be the first and only conference matchup between the two teams.
Scouting Oklahoma
- The Sooners head into the matchup with a 6-5 record and a three-game losing streak as they started out Big 12 play against no. 10 Texas.
- Head coach Aaron Mansfield is in his first season with Oklahoma after serving the last six seasons at Loyola Marymount leading the Lions to a 94-68 (.580) record.
- Oklahoma returned eight and brought in seven newcomers.
- Both teams played Illinois this season and the Sooners recorded a 3-0 sweep in the Irish Invitational while the Knights won 3-2 at the Boilermaker Challenge.
- Alexis Shelton is ranked no. 3 in the Big 12 for kills per set with 4.22 while Payton Chamberlin dishes out the assists, ranked at no. 4 in the Big 12 in assists per set (10.46).
Ace it up
- Currently ranked no. 1 in the NCAA for aces per set with an average of 2.58 per set.
- Two Knights are ranked in the top 100 for service aces Emily Wilson (11th) and Claudia Dillon (77th).
- Against North Texas, the Knights came out strong with the serves firing a season-high 15 aces.
Knight and Shining Armour
- Freshman Avah Armour has started in every match this season as an outside hitter.
- Headlined by seven matches with double digits in kills along with a career-high of 17 kills against Cincinnati (9/21).
- Armour has recorded two double-doubles this season in the first non-conference and first Big 12 match.
- Currently, she is the only freshman ranked in the Big 12 for service aces with 20.
Ace Queen
- Emily Wilson is ranked no. 1 in service aces per set (0.60) and total service aces (29) in the Big 12 standings.
- In the first matchup against a Big 12 opponent (Cincinnati), Wilson tied her career-high five service aces in the 3-1 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, a 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, a 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 seven 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.
- 1st: 2.58 aces per set
- 4th: 124 team service aces
- 9th: 0.298 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.