ORLANDO - A dominant weekend at the venue has garnered a pair of Knights spots on the first Big 12 Starting Seven of the season, with Avah Armour taking home Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career, while Sasha Cohen secured an at-large spot on the seven-player team following her formidable performances at the net.
The new-look weekly awards from the conference office, which name an offensive, defensive, setter and rookie of the week, along with three other student-athletes to make up the “Starting Seven,” featured four schools, with UCF, Arizona State and Iowa State amassing two players each.
Following a decorated 2025 campaign that saw Armour become the ninth AVCA All-American in program history, the senior opened her 2026 account emphatically, boasting 5.4 kills per set and an outstanding 6.4 points per set across the weekend.
In the season opener, the Colorado native recorded 30 points in just four sets against Robert Morris, tallying 25 kills, two aces, and a career-high six blocks. In the weekend finale against NC State, Armour averaged seven kills a set in the sweep, along with surpassing the 1,000-kill milestone to become the 15th player in UCF history to do so.
Following an action-packed opening week of matches across the nation, Armour ranks third in the nation and leads the Big 12 with 6.4 points per set, along with her 5.4 kills per set, which stand fifth in the nation and also lead the conference.
Armour isn’t the only Knight leading the Big 12, however, as a career-best weekend from Cohen at the net placed her on the starting seven, the first weekly honors of her career.
The redshirt junior averaged a conference-leading 2.3 blocks per set, which also ranks fourth in the nation, along with an impressive .462 hitting percentage from 22 kills on 39 attacks, also a Big 12-leading mark.
In the opener against Robert Morris, Cohen broke her career high in blocks in just the second set, finishing the night with an even 10 before adding nine more across the next two matches. Offensively, her 2.2 kills per set showed the versatility the player possesses.