{"id":61059,"date":"2014-08-31T12:20:38","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T16:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=61059"},"modified":"2014-09-01T14:26:49","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T18:26:49","slug":"volleyball-perfect-start-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/volleyball-perfect-start-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Volleyball: Perfect Start to Season"},"content":{"rendered":"
The UCF volleyball team claimed the Radisson UCF Invitational championship with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-17) win over FIU on Saturday evening at The Venue at UCF. The Knights needed the bare minimum of 12 sets to open the season with a perfect 4-0 record.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the team for going 4-0 and not dropping a set along the way,\u201d UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said. \u201cI thought we were remarkable at closing out sets all weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
FIU was not going to hand the title to UCF, as the Panthers jumped out to an early 10-5 lead but a 6-1 run from the Knights put UCF on top. The Knights took the lead for good on a block from seniors Kaye-Alese Green and Ashley Gialenios. Once UCF took the lead in the second set, they maintained it and persevered in the final set to become tournament champions.<\/p>\n
UCF had four all-tournament selections, as senior middle blocker DeLaina Sarden, senior libero Jade Hayes, sophomore outside hitter Kia Bright and sophomore outside hitter Jale Hervey received the accolades.<\/p>\n
Hervey led the Knights against FIU with 14 kills, while hitting .565 and serving up a team-high five aces. Hervey took home the tournament MVP honors, as she finished the weekend with 60 kills, 24 digs, and seven digs while hitting .481.<\/p>\n
Bright added 12 kills and finished the match with eight digs. Hayes tallied double-digit digs for the fourth time this season, finishing with 13. Senior Marie Reiterova and junior Dana Faught had 17 and 15 assists, respectively.<\/p>\n