The UCF Volleyball team (24-7, 14-2) defended their conference title as they took down No.1 seed Cincinnati (21-25, 25-16, 26-24, 24-26, 15-10) in the American Athletic Conference Championship in dramatic, five set fashion (25-6, 15-1) Sunday afternoon at The Venue located at\u00a0Addition Financial Arena.<\/p>\n
With the victory, UCF secured the automatic bid representing The American into the NCAA Championship. The Knights will make their 10th appearance all-time in the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n
“I am so happy and so proud of these athletes who have worked so hard.” – UCF Volleyball Head Coach Todd Dagenais.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“I am so happy and so proud of these athletes who have worked so hard,” says UCF Volleyball Head Coach Todd Dagenais. “There was a lot of pressure put on us \u2026 but I also knew Cincinnati was probably the team to beat this year. They are a tremendous team.”<\/p>\n
Unanimous all-conference first-team selection\u00a0McKenna Melville<\/a>\u00a0powered the Knights with 27 kills and 12 digs, adding in four blocks. Melville finished the tournament with 59 kills, 37 digs and seven blocks to earn championship Most Outstanding Player honors. All-conference first-team choice\u00a0Anne-Marie Watson<\/a>\u00a0kicked in 11 kills, a .375 hitting percentage and nine blocks in the title match to join fellow all-conference first-teamer\u00a0Kristina Fisher<\/a>\u00a0(12 kills, 13 digs) on the American Athletic Conference Championship All-Tournament Team.<\/p>\n
The conference title garnered UCF an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Knights’ seeding, dates and location of play is all yet to be determined. The NCAA selection show will air on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU.<\/p>\n
First Set<\/h2>\n
The Bearcats struck first in the contest, but back-to-back rejections from the Knights gave them the early, 2-1 lead. UCF held onto its advantage later into their set as an\u00a0Erin Olson<\/a>\u00a0service ace extended the lead to 12-9, but a five-point Bearcats run would put them up, 15-13 at the media timeout. As the Knights fought back, A\u00a0Kristina Fisher<\/a>\u00a0kill cut the deficit to 21-19 and Cincinnati would call their first timeout. The Bearcats would recoup after the stoppage as they would go on to win the first set, 25-21.<\/p>\n
Second Set<\/h2>\n
UCF started off in control of the second set, going up 11-7 to force an early Cincinnati timeout. When play resumed, the Knights kept their momentum, outscoring the Bearcats, 3-1 over the next four rallies to bring the UCF lead to 14-8. UCF would only grow their lead as a\u00a0McKenna Melville<\/a>\u00a0kill put them up 19-11, and another Cincinnati timeout was called. The Black and Gold would keep the pressure on as they went on to with the second set, 25-16.<\/p>\n
Third Set<\/h2>\n
The Bearcats seemed to be in control for much of the third set, leading by as many as six points at 18-12 before the Knights called for time. UCF closed within two at 18-16 before the Bearcats ran ahead to set point at 24-18. The Knights answered with an outstanding comeback, utilizing three blocks and a pair of Cincinnati errors to sweep the final eight points for the improbable, 26-24 set victory.<\/p>\n
Fourth Set<\/h2>\n
It was another classic of a set in the fourth, with the neither squad separating themselves by more than two points. Keeping with the same no-quit mentality they had in the third set, UCF fought off set point twice to square things at 24-all, but back-to-back Cincinnati kills provided the 26-24 winning margin to send the matchup to the fifth and deciding set.<\/p>\n
Fifth Set<\/h2>\n
The final set began in similar fashion to the rest of the match, with the two teams’ neck-and-neck. Jordan Thompson missed an attack out of bounds to give the Knights the 7-6 lead and UCF broke an 8-8 tie after a block assist and kill, extending their lead as high as 13-8 on the 6-0 run. A kill by the Knights on match point gave 女仆AV its third overall American championship with a 15-10 victory.<\/p>\n
Continue to follow UCF Volleyball on social media on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and Instagram for the latest on the UCF volleyball season.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Knights took down No. 1 seed Cincinnati to defend their conference title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":104839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[15761,4857,5102],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-104836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-pegasus-briefs","tag-ucf-athletics","tag-volleyball"],"yoast_head":"\n
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