ORLANDO - It has been 306 days, but the UCF volleyball team is back in action in The Venue after spending its first three weeks of season on the road.
The Matchup
- The Knights host Nevada and Maryland for their home opening weekend.
- UCF will face Nevada on Thursday and Friday followed by a matchup with Maryland on Saturday.
- Both teams head into the matchup after going 3-0 last weekend including two 3-0 sweeps.
Scouting Nevada
- The Wolf Pack enter the matchup 7-2 on the season.
- Head coach Shannon Wyckoff-McNeal is in her first season with Nevada, as she was previously an assistant coach at Washington State.
- The last matchup between the two programs was in 1990, when the Knights won 3-1 in Orlando.
- Gabby McLaughlin leads the Wolf Pack in kills with 129 kills, averaging 3.49 per set.
- Kinsley Singleton has recorded 155 digs this season, which ranks her No. 40 in the NCAA.
Scouting Maryland
- The Terrapins enter the weekend with a 6-2 record.
- Head coach Adam Hughes is in his 7th season with Maryland.
- This will be the first matchup between the two teams.
- Samantha Schnitta and Sam Csire lead the Terps in kills and aces nearing the end of the non-conference schedule.
- Scnitta ranks third in the Big 10 with 0.68 aces per set and averages 3.50 kills per set.
- Csire averages 2.96 kills and 0.46 aces per set.
100 Wins
- Head coach Jenny Maurer eclipsed her 100th career win as a head coach on August 31 against Virginia Tech.
- Maurer is in her second season as head coach at UCF and had previous stops at Lehigh (2007-2010) and Bradley (2011-2015),
Road Warriors
- The Knights started their season out with three weekends on the road.
- UCF traveled to Virginia and North Carolina, along with two weekends on the road in Florida.
- It marked the first time since the 2017 season that the Knights played their first three weekends away from The Venue.
Double-Trouble Trio
- Three Knights recorded double-doubles last season led by Emily Wilson with eight followed by Abby Schomers with six and Avah Armour with two.
- Schomers and Armour each produced a double-double in the first match of the season against Virginia Tech.
- Schomers dished out 40 assists and 10 digs while Armour recorded 16 kills and 10 digs.
- As a setter, Schomers notched her second double-double of the season at Stetson with 39 assists and 10 digs.
Year Two in the Big 12
- The Knights ended their inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference with a 17-12 overall record and 8-10 in conference play.
- This season the Knights will open league play on ESPNU at Kansas on Sept. 25.
- With the addition of four new members into the Big 12, the Knights will host Colorado for the first time since 2003, Utah (1996) and travel to Arizona and Arizona State for the first time in program history.
Milestone Watch
- Chloe Scheer has recorded 1,229 digs in her career at UCF, which ranks her sixth in the individual career records for career digs.
- The Murrieta, California, native currently has served up 118 aces, with just two more she will be tied with former teammate, Amber Olson, at No. 10 on the individual career list.
Ace it up
- The Knights finished out the 2023 season ranked 16th in the NCAA and No. 1 in the Big 12 for aces per set averaging 1.91.
- Emily Wilson ranked among the top 30 for aces per set at No. 28 with .46.
- Last season, the Black and Gold tallied 199 aces to rank No. 45 in the NCAA.
- Sasha Cohen served up three aces in her UCF debut at Virginia Tech (8/31/24).
Knight in Shining Armour
- Headlined by six matches with double digits in kills along with a career-high 18 kills at Stetson (9/5).
- Armour recorded her first double-double this season in the season opener against Virginia Tech (8/31).
- The Colorado native’s 18 kills at Stetson rank in the top 30 nationally for kills in a three-set match.
Knights In The Rankings
- UCF is currently ranked in six categories in the top 100 of the NCAA.
- 40th: .833 match w-l %
- 49th: 0.161 opp. hitting %
- 74th: 0.241 hitting %
- 80th: 13.13 kills per set
- 87th: 12.09 assists per set
Familiar Face
- Head coach Jenny Maurer announced the addition of Cameron Stevens to the staff as an assistant coach.
- Stevens rejoins the Knights after spending the last two years as an assistant coach at High Point, where he helped lead the Panthers to consecutive Big South Tournament Championships.
- Before this time at High Point, Stevens was a part of three straight American Athletic Conference titles at UCF.
- He also helped the Knights advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament twice during his first stint with the Black and Gold.
Calling All Newbies
- The Knights added a total of four newcomers to the roster during the offseason.
- Two of those are freshmen and the other two are transfers.
- The freshmen include Cam Shelton and Mya Ball.
- The transfer duo includes Alexia Kuehl (Colorado) and Sophia Kotsovolos (Gardner-Webb).
Preseason Olympic Trials
- During preseason, the Knights participated in their own form of Olympic trials with various events.
- The team was broken into five countries with three players in each group.
- The five countries consisted of Papua New Guinea, Djibouti, Christmas Island, Oman and Zanzibar.
- With a total of five events, each country was scored on their performance.
- Event one consisted of each group receiving their country, making the country’s flag on a t-shirt and national anthem, which was then judged on a scale of 1-5 from three guest judges.
- The team went bowling for event No. 2 as each country competed against each other and averaged the score.
- Events three and four included another panel of judges with interpretive dancing followed by presentations from each group, which consisted of information regarding their specific country and why the judges would want to live there.
- The squad wrapped up their Olympic trials at Drive Shack as they tested their golf skills for the final edge in the leaderboard.
- Final Leaderboard: first place: Christmas Island, second place: Djibouti, third place: Zanzibar, fourth place: Oman, fifth place: Papua New Guinea