QUICK HITS
- Armour set a career-high with 35.5 points in the win, putting together her most well-rounded collegiate performance to date. Her 28 kills marked the second-most in her career, while also tallying four aces and a career-high 17 digs.
- Named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team, Armour has risen to the occasion in conference play, totaling 142 kills in eight matches (17.8 per match).
- Three Knights boasted 10 or more digs, including freshman libero Alexa Haley, who led the charge with 21. English’s defensive capabilities also shone as she secured 11.
- UCF set a season-high with 14 aces, continuing its hold as the best team in the Big 12 from the service line. Fallon Stewart (two), Armour (four), and English (five) each boasted two or more to their names, while three other Knights also landed one.
- Abby Schomers set a season high with 52 assists, giving the Knights' attack plenty of opportunities as the group totaled 63 kills on the night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both groups looked to find the early edge as the first set commenced, as multiple rallies set the tone for the back-and-forth nature of the match. Aces from Armour and English canceled out early offensive pressure from the Cougars, leaving the contest at a 15-all stalemate.
Multiple UCF errors, joined by Houston’s blocking talent at the net, saw the hosts pull away to force a Black and Gold timeout at 17-20. Out of the break, Armour tallied her fifth kill of the set before freshman Mikayla Porter landed an ace to flip the momentum. While the Cougars grew a late three-point lead, the Knights responded emphatically with a 5-0 scoring run to take the set, 25-23, capped by a kill from the Houston native, Reaghan Thompson.
Looking to grab back the home-court advantage, Houston raced out to a second-set lead, forcing Botsford to call a timeout down 7-3. The Cougars added four more points to grow their lead to eight before the Knights began to piece together some good play. Armour tallied her second consecutive six-kill set to cut the deficit down to five.
A trio of later scoring runs were fended off, however, as Houston leveled the bout at one apiece, 25-21. Both sides continued to produce scoring runs as the lead swung in each direction through the third set. After Thompson tallied back-to-back kills to garner a 9-8 lead for the Black and Gold, the Cougars took 11 of 12 points to firmly take control of the set and the match, 25-20.
Needing a spark to climb back into the contest, early points from Armour led to multiple kills from Cohen to grow the Knights' lead to 13-5. While Houston timeouts aimed to halt UCF’s charge, the Black and Gold leveled the overall dual with a convincing 25-17 set-four triumph.
It looked to be more of the same as the winner-take-all set began, with Armour putting her squad in a 7-3 lead. However, in line with a long history of contested matches between these two programs, Houston swung back with a 5-0 scoring run to claim an advantage of its own.
The star of the night, Armour, gave the Cougars an opportunity to finish off the match after a pair of attack errors, though her formidable mentality turned two chances minutes later into kills to give UCF the lead once again. After a service error from the hosts, the Knights tallied their 13th block of the match as Cohen met a Barakat Rahmon attempt at the net, emphatically securing the dramatic victory for her team.
UP NEXT
The Knights will have a quick turnaround as they head back to Orlando to welcome Texas Tech to The Venue for a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday.
