ORLANDO – The UCF volleyball team fought hard against No. 24 BYU but came up short in a 3-1 loss on Thursday night inside The Venue.
UCF (8-14, 1-12 Big 12) and BYU (15-8, 8-5) each recorded 10 blocks on the night. The Cougars held the upper hand in aces with 11 and 48 kills. The Knights lead with 57 digs compared to BYU’s 50.
Avah Armour led the squad with 11 kills and four blocks while Alexia Kuehl and Britt Carlson each added nine kills. Chloe Scheer tallied 23 digs and Katelyn Grimes chipped in 12.
BYU and UCF traded points throughout most of the set but a 6-1 BYU rally forced a UCF timeout, 15-14. The battle for the lead continued to ensue as Armour tied it up at 17 with a kill. The Cougars ended the first set with a 3-0 scoring spurt to take the set, 25-20. BYU recorded a .324 clip on the set with 16 kills.
An early 4-0 run for the Cougars forced the Knights to regroup with a timeout, 11-7. The Knights came out from the timeout ready to go as Sasha Cohen recorded a kill that sparked a 4-0 run to tie the set up at 11. Both teams fought back and forth as a block from Armour and Kuehl knotted it up, 15-15. The Black and Gold proceeded to go on a quick 2-0 run to force BYU to burn a timeout, 17-15. The Knights held the lead and took the set, 25-18. UCF hit for a .304 clip in the second set.
Cohen started the third set with a kill to get the Knights on the board early. As both teams tussled back and forth, BYU eventually took the lead following a few UCF errors. The Cougars kept the lead and went up 2-1 in the match with a set win, 25-18.
The fourth set was all the Cougars as they got off to an early 6-2 jump. UCF took a timeout at 19-11 to regroup and came out firing on all cylinders with a 6-0 rally led by a kill from Kuehl. The Knights were unable to catch the Cougars’ lead as BYU took the set, 25-21.
The Knights host No. 20 Utah on Saturday, November 16, with first serve slated for 1 p.m.