It’s Big 12 ‘SZN (Officially)
While the Knights opened their 2025 Big 12 slate a full week before the rest of the league in a defeat to Baylor last week in Orlando, UCF wrapped up non-conference play in Alabama this past week and can now officially set its sights on one of the nation’s top conferences. The Black and Gold will welcome Cincinnati to The Venue Wednesday night for the 29th all-time meeting between the two programs. The Knights dominated the series while in The American, though they dropped each of their meetings with the Bearcats last season. The Wednesday tilt will also be a meeting between two of the three first-year head coaches in the Big 12, as Cincinnati skipper Danijela Tomic embarks on her first season with the Bearcats after 13 successful years with Bowling Green.
Notes from ‘Bama
The Black and Gold concluded their first non-conference slate under head coach Matt Botsford this past weekend, claiming a pair of four-set victories against Memphis and Alabama to conclude the first portion of the season 9-2. Friday produced one of the more well-rounded performances for the Knights this season, boasting 14 blocks to suffocate the Tigers, marking the most in a match by UCF since October 30, 2022, against Wichita State. In each contest, the Knights held their opponents to a sub-.200 hitting percentage for the eighth and ninth times this season. A pair of freshmen made big impacts as well, with Alexa Haley starting her first career matches, eventually boasting 36 combined digs, while Mikayla Porter authored a strong performance down the stretch against Alabama with a team-leading and career-high 27 assists.
Milestones on Milestones
Over the past two weeks, multiple Knights have surpassed career-defining marks. Skylar English continued to keep pace as the most prolific server in the nation with an NCAA-leading 36 aces and 0.95 aces per set. Against Memphis on Friday, English fired off a career-high nine aces, surpassing 200 in her career, becoming the only active DI player with that amount to her name. English’s nine aces against Memphis match the program record set by Lorin Lukas in 2006 against Tory. Reaghan Thompson pieced together her best weekend in Black and Gold, surpassing 400 career blocks with a season-high 12 against the Tigers, matching the third-most all-time in program history. Thompson is the only active DI player with 400-plus career blocks and 800-plus career kills to her name. During the final home tournament, English surpassed 1,000 career kills, while Sophia Kotsovolos also broke the 1k mark in digs. Abby Schomers continued her climb up the record books in Alabama, passing former Knight Andree Youngblood (2006-09) for sixth all-time in career assists (2,409).
