HOUSTON - In a truly back-and-forth affair at the Fertitta Center Friday night, the UCF volleyball team secured its first Big 12 win of the season in five sets after fending off a late Houston surge, 25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 22-25, 16-14.
A balanced UCF attack was led by Avah Armour’s 16 kills, Kiki Horne’s 14 and Sasha Cohen’s 11, though it was the defense that led the Knights to the victory. Thirteen blocks and a presence at the net that forced 27 errors from the hosts were headlined by six from Ella Chapman and five from Cohen.
In her second start of the season, sophomore setter Mikayla Porter matched her career high with 43 assists, while Alexa Haley secured her third 20-plus-dig performance of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After exchanging the match's first points, the Knights rattled off a 7-0 run in large part to a pair of blocks and a kill from Kiki Horne, who set the tone for the visitors. After a solo block from Ella Chapman to claim a 15-8 lead into the media timeout, the Black and Gold never came back.
Out of the break, kills from UCF’s main attacking threats, Armour, Casey, Hart and Horne saw the Knights pull away with the set, eventually taking it 25-19.
Having tallied four blocks in the opening set, UCF’s defense didn’t waver in the second, as blocks from Casey and Cohen headlined a 5-0 run to commence the set. While Armour and the offensive corps continued to fire on all cylinders, the blocking efforts sustained a comfortable lead throughout.
An ace from Porter put the Knights up eight, preceding her set winner, as a dump put the Cougars away, 25-16, to double the UCF advantage.
Sitting at 3-2 in conference play heading into the match, the Cougars came out hot in the third, attaining a 15-10 lead at the media timeout. While kills from Horne and Cohen pulled the Knights within one, Houston cut the UCF lead in half with a fourth-set win, 25-21.
The hosts carried their momentum into the second set with yet another fast start, gaining a comfortable lead through the efforts of Sydney Jones. Even after the Knights pulled within one, the Cougars forced a winner-take-all fifth set, 25-22.
The fifth set opened with a back-and-forth affair, before a UCF challenge on a touch off an Armour attack garnered the Knights a 6-5 lead. After having their first match point thwarted, an error from the Cougars finally concluded yet another five-set thriller in Houston.
UP NEXT
UCF will return home to face West Virginia at The Venue Sunday at 1 p.m.