UCF takes tourney, drops only one set

The UCF Volleyball team went a perfect 4-0 this weekend en route to winning the Radisson-UCF Invitational tournament held at The Venue.

The Knights defeated Jacksonville 3-1 and North Florida 3-0 on Friday and then took down Florida Atlantic and DePaul in straight sets Saturday.

"I was really proud of our level of execution all the way from the first day to the last day," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "Not only were we able to win, we were able to grow up, we were able to get better, we were able to overcome and we're stepping in the right direction."

The 4-0 start to the season is the best for the program since 1995.

"We're very excited because it just shows where the program is going," senior outside hitter Erin Campbell said. "You're seeing little steps in the right direction and that's exciting, especially for a veteran."

Campbell was named MVP of the tournament, leading the team with 49 kills in the four matches.

"Erin [Campbell's] a great mentor," Dagenais said. "She was business from the time she got here. I thought maybe she was sick or something was wrong, but she just had her game face on."

Senior setter Andee Youngblood and freshman middle blocker Nichole Riedel made for a nice connection all weekend and joined Campbell on the all-tournament team.

Youngblood had 151 assists and never left the floor during any match Riedel was at her best in the final win over DePaul, posting 7 kills and a .455 hitting percentage.

In front of a crowd of 918, DePaul gave UCF their toughest test of the tournament, especially during the first set that UCF took 25-23.

DePaul had a .371 hitting percentage in the set but adjustments by the Knights shutdown Depaul for the remainder of the match, as that percentage took a significant drop to .042.

"We changed our defensive and blocking scheme just a little bit and it gave [DePaul] a different look," Dagenais said. "Sara [Rex] went in and did exactly what we needed her to do right from the beginning and she completely dominated her side of the net."

Sophomore middle blocker Sara Rex, who is normally used to provide defense in the middle for the Knights, but she also contributed on the offensive end against DePaul with 6 kills in 8 tries to go along with her 4 blocks.

"Our blocking got a little bit more disciplined after the first set," Rex said. "We started blocking higher and lower, which is something we worked on a lot in practice."

The crowd support, which Dagenais said would be the best in the conference if it kept up, also played a large role in the Knights' success this weekend.

"It helps a lot and it definitely helps in the beginning because a lot of teams aren't used to crowds, so it really intimidates them," Rex said. "For a lot of teams it helps to get a jump start on them and it puts them in a hole and gets them down quick."

The one match in which the Knights didn't get their opponent down quickly was the first one, where they dropped the first set to Jacksonville.

Before the opening match Dagenais expressed concern that Jacksonville could upset the Knights if the team committed a lot of errors.

That was exactly the case as the Knights committed 11 errors in the first set, more than any other match this weekend.

"The errors are just the inexperience," Dagenais said. "Once we got everyone doing their own thing, playing their own position, we really settled in nicely."

The Knights would rebound winning the next three sets of the match 25-21, 25-16 and 25-17 to defeat Jacksonville.

Sophomore outside hitter Kristin Fisher provided offense when the team most desperately needed it, leading the squad with 16 kills and 4 service aces in the match.

The Knights really started to hit their stride after that and would not lose a set the rest of the weekend.

The Knights dominated North Florida behind a team hitting percentage of .354 compared to just .094 for the Ospreys.

Campbell was the story of that match, leading the team with 17 kills.

Rex and freshman right side hitter Evija Vilde kept with the theme of hitting efficiently.

Rex had 7 kills and a .700 hitting percentage while Vilde also had 7 kills and a .429 hitting percentage.

The Knights did not lose any momentum for the first match on Saturday.

Florida Atlantic provided little to no resistance as the Knights shut them out 25-14 in the first two sets and then 25-9 in the third.

The Knights improved upon their hitting percentage in that match, posting a .434 mark.

Campbell led the team with 14 kills, while four other players added at least 8, including junior middle blocker Lauren Williams who connected on all 9 of her attempts.

The Knights will open up their road schedule on Tuesday when they travel to play Bethune-Cookman at 7 p.m.

The next home match for the Knights will be on Sept. 15 for Volley Bowl II when the Knights take on USF.

The first 1,000 students to that match will receive a free ticket to the UCF-Miami football game on Oct. 10.