ORLANDO – UCF volleyball snagged a win over Oklahoma in its Big 12 home opener, picking up a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-22) Big 12 conference victory on Thursday night in The Venue.
The Knights (12-2, 3-0) fired away with a .333 attack percentage allowing Oklahoma (6-6, 0-3) to just a .077 clip. UCF capitalized with 34 kills and 21 digs while both teams recorded six blocks. Avah Armour led the match with 10 kills and added in two aces. Claudia Dillon and Emily Wilson each tallied seven kills. Wilson was strong on defense with eight digs and three blocks.
“I’ve been talking about how they have been a lot of the firsts but we are focused on its just another volleyball match,” said head coach Jenny Maurer. “Props to both of my assistants and the team for knowing what they were going to throw at us as we slowed them down.”
Both teams traded points back and forth until a 7-7 deadlock when Armour tied it up with a kill to ignite a 5-1 run, 12-8. The Knights continued their momentum gaining as much as an eight-point lead over the Sooners, 18-10. UCF cruised through the final five points of the set earning an early 1-0 lead in the match, 25-13.
The Black and Gold got off to a quick 7-2 start forcing the Sooner to burn a timeout. Oklahoma chipped away at the Knights lead with back-to-back service aces to spark a 5-1 run, 16-15. UCF answered back after a timeout building its lead back up to take the second set, 25-18. Wilson came up clutch with two solo blocks in the set. While the Knights took advantage of the Sooners' six service miscues.
“It feels good to be playing against different competition this season and to be able to win in our home gym is huge,” added Claudia Dillon.
The third set looked a lot like the second as the Knights built an 8-4 lead before the Sooners knotted the score at nine. Coming out of a timeout, the Knights went on a 6-1 run to give themselves a 15-11 edge. Oklahoma fought back but it wasn’t enough as the Black and Gold earned the sweep, 25-22.
The Knights will wrap up the series with Oklahoma on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. in The Venue.