ORLANDO- UCF volleyball fell short to the TCU Horned Frogs during Friday night’s matchup. The Knights were defeated in four sets (25-12, 25-22, 29-27, 25-18) by the conference opponent.
UCF (17-5, 8-3) and TCU (13-10, 6-6) tied the match with 53 kills each. The Horned Frogs won the statistical matchup with 49 digs, 10 aces and a .279 hitting percentage. Annika Sokol recorded her first career kill in the first set. Abby Hansen led the match with six blocks and added 12 kills. Abby Schomers aided the Knights with 47 assists.
“I thought our middles did a good job at taking care of the ball, unfortunately we had more service errors than we did blocks, said head coach Jenny Maurer. “It’s the October grind and it definitely wasn’t our night as TCU stepped up tonight and we weren’t able to slow them down”
The Horned Frogs jumped out to an early 6-3 lead on the Knights and held on to win the first set by a score of 25-12. TCU totaled 12 kills with four service aces and a .474 attacking percentage.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair until a few errors put the Horned Frogs up by four with a score of 9-5. Following a UCF timeout, the battle continued until TCU found themselves with a 17-12 advantage. After a 4-1 run aided by four kills, the Knights found themselves within two, 18-16. Further along in the set, an attacking error by TCU brought the Knights within one, 23-22. The Horned Frogs then called their first timeout and came out swinging, ending the set with two kills and taking the win 25-22.
UCF jumped out to an 8-3 start in the third set highlighted by two kills by Avah Armour. However, TCU did not make it easy and the set became back-and-forth until the Horned Frogs tied the score at 19-19. Following a kill by Britt Carlson and a block by both Carlson and Claudia Dillon, the Black and Gold regained the lead, 22-20. TCU was then forced to take their second timeout of the set. The Horned Frogs and the Knights continued to battle and both teams were relentless, tying the score four times. Hansen delivered a kill for UCF to lock up a hard-fought set three win with a score of 29-27.
TCU came out strong in the fourth set with a 7-3 lead, including a 6-1 run. The Horned Frogs continued to command with the Knights down 13-7, causing the Black and Gold to take their first timeout of the set. Back-to-back blocks by both Hansen and Armour helped UCF rally to within three, 18-15. The Horned Frogs answered quickly and continued their pace and took the set, 25-18.
The Knights will head on the road next as they travel to Houston to play two against the Cougars on Nov. 3 and 4, with start times of 8 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.