Sunday, November 20
UCF 3, Temple 0 - Box Score
East Carolina 3, South Florida 1 - Box Score
Houston 3, SMU 1 - Box Score
Memphis 3, Tulane 0 - Box Score
Wichita State 3, Cincinnati 1 - Box Score
Recaps
UCF 3, Temple 0 - Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - The No. 24 UCF volleyball team (25-1, 17-1 The American) cruised past Temple (10-19, 4-14 The American) in straight sets 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-22) Sunday afternoon inside McGonigle Hall.
UCF and Temple both opened the match strong, as the set was tied at 6-6 before the Knights scored five unanswered points to grab an 11-6 lead. Heidi Bonde sparked the run with a kill and a kill from Amber Olson capped the stretch. Temple rallied to trim the UCF advantage to 15-14, but Abby Hansen recorded a kill to ignite a 4-1 run for the Knights and they went on to win the set, 25-17.
Set two started off with Temple and UCF exchanging points. The Knights pulled away with a kill from McKenna Melville at 13-13 to go on 3-0 run. Followed by a 5-0 run, UCF opened up a 21-15 lead, with three of those points off kills from Kari Zumach. Melville ended the set with a kill, 25-20.
The Knights' offense was firing on all cylinders in the second set, as UCF tallied a .448 attacking percentage with 17 kills on 29 attempts with only four errors.
The third set featured nine ties with six of them occurring before each team reached 10 points in the set. Temple pulled ahead 15-9 to force a UCF timeout, but the Knights were able to regain their footing after the break by winning nine of the next 11 rallies to take an 18-17 lead. Leading 21-20, Claudia Dillon notched an important kill followed by a kill from Hansen. A block assist from Olson and Zumach gave the Knights match point and Melville finished it off a few points later to clinch the win.
Melville led the offense with 18 kills, while adding 10 digs and four blocks. Bonde, Hansen and Zumach each recorded seven kills.
Chloe Scheer paced the defense with 14 digs and tallied an ace. Dillon came up big for UCF at the net with five blocks.
East Carolina 3, South Florida 1 - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina salvaged a season series split with South Florida Sunday afternoon via a 3-1 (26-24, 25-21, 18-25, 25-21) American Athletic Conference victory inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
The Pirates, who have won three of their last five matches, improve to 11-19 overall and 6-12 in AAC play while the Bulls drop to 10-18 and 4-12. The six conference triumphs are tied for the second most in a single season (2014, 2019) since ECU joined the American.
Angeles Alderete was her usual dominant self, tallying her 11th 20-kill effort of the campaign. She finished the day with 23 kills and five digs to go along with a solid .347 hitting percentage. Izzy Marinelli also put in a superb outing, racking up 16 kills, five digs and a .324 hitting mark. Kenzie Beckham led all players defensively with 19 digs while Payton Evenstad chipped in with a double-double of 25 assists and 11 digs. Amanda DeWitt paced the visitors with 13 kills and 12 digs.
Both squads hit for a high percentage as ECU put down 60 kills on 140 attempts with 17 errors for a stout .307 performance while USF registered 60 kills on 150 swings with 20 errors to fire at a .267 clip. The Pirates had the better of things in total digs (60-53) and total blocks (6.0-5.0).
The sides battled to a 12-12 deadlock in the opener before South Florida rattled off three in a row to grab the upper hand at the media timeout. The Pirates battled back, using a USF ball-handling error to draw within 19-18. The Bulls were able to reach set point at 24-22 following a Maria Clara Andrade kill, but East Carolina dug down and secured the final four points of the set to grab the early match advantage.
ECU looked to be in control following a four-point win in the second frame, and even led the third stanza 11-9. However, USF rallied and put together a 10-4 run to propel ahead 19-15. The Pirates could not recover as the match continued.
Neither squad could establish much breathing room early in the fourth set before kills by Alderete and Marinelli, as well as a block by Alderete and Shaylynn Hall, comprised a three-point spurt that boosted East Carolina in front. South Florida came close a handful of times down the stretch, but the Pirates never relinquished the lead. Evenstad elevated to post one of the best setter solo stuffs Minges Coliseum has ever seen to afford ECU match point at 24-18 and Marinelli sealed the match a few rallies later with a kill off the block.
Houston 3, SMU 1 - Box Score
HOUSTON – The No. 23 University of Houston volleyball team continued its winning ways this conference season, defeating SMU, 3-1, at the Fertitta Center in front of 1,301 fans on Sunday afternoon. The victory completes an undefeated home schedule that saw the Cougars post a 14-0 record at the Fertitta Center.
Houston (27-2, 18-0 The American) pushes its record winning streak to 19 games, which still sits as the third-longest active streak in Division I. The Cougars have also won their last 18 conference matches, the second-longest active stretch in the country.
Senior Abbie Jackson posted a second straight double-double with 11 kills and 18 digs. Graduates Kortlyn Henderson and Isabel Theut also tallied double-digit kill totals, with 14 and 11, respectively. Henderson's total marked the first time she led Houston in the category this season.
Junior Kate Georgiades led the match with 20 digs, while junior Annie Cooke paced the team with 22 assists. Senior Morgan Janda added 17 assists of her own, narrowly missing a double-double with nine digs.
Memphis 3, Tulane 0 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Tigers swiftly beat the Green Wave on Sunday afternoon. Memphis defeated Tulane by the score 25-21,25-20,26-24. Senior Kate Bass had a career-high 10 blocks during the match.
Memphis picked up the 2-0 lead after hitting over .200 percent and hold the Green Wave attack to under .200 including .096 during the second frame.
Tulane took an early lead in the third, but the Tigers used a 5-0 run to close out the third set and win the match.
Senior Kate Bass had a career-high 10 blocks. Bass added seven kills on .353 hitting percentage.
Jasmyn Tate led all scorers will 40 attacks.
For the second straight match Bailey Houlihan had a match-best 24 digs.
Wichita State 3, Cincinnati 1 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State hit .348 as a team and out-blocked Cincinnati seven to one over the final two sets, knocking off the Bearcats 25-16, 19-25, 25-18, 25-21 on Sunday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena.
The win marked the first season sweep of the Bearcats since the 2017 campaign, and also clinched a winning record for the Shockers (16-12, 11-6).
Wichita State got huge offensive performances from Brylee Kelly (19 kills, .389 hitting percentage), Natalie Foster (17, .600) and Sophia Rohling (13, .619) all from the direction of setter Kayce Litzau, who finished with 50 assists on a stellar .476 set percentage. Litzau also chipped in a match-high 14 digs.
The Shockers stormed out of the gates, forcing two Cincinnati timeouts in taking a quick 14-5 lead. The lead eventually swelled to as many as 10 when Foster slammed home a kill to make it 20-10, but Cincinnati (9-19, 7-11) fought back to within 21-16 to force a Shockers timeout. Out of the break, WSU scored four points in rapid succession to nail down the opening set, capped off by a block from Rohling and Morgan Stout.
Foster finished the set with six kills on seven swings, her best hitting percentage in a single set this season.
The Bearcats led from the jump in set two, three times extending their advantage out to eight points (16-8, 17-9, 18-10) thanks to six kills from Carly Glendinning. Wichita State made a late charge with four straight points to pull within 20-16, but Glendinning responded with three kills down the stretch to even the score at one set apiece.
After Cincinnati seized an early 7-4 advantage in the decisive third set, Wichita State put together a crucial 5-0 run to take the lead at 9-7. They would not relinquish that edge for the remainder of the set, as Kelly fired home seven kills in the frame to keep the Bearcats at arm's length. WSU did not allow Cincinnati to score three straight points until the lead was 24-15, and Kelly squelched the mini rally with an emphatic kill to give the Shockers a 2-1 lead.
Lauren McMahon came off the bench in the set to notch four block assists, part of five team blocks in the set for the Shockers compared to none by Cincinnati.
Kelly kept up the barrage in the fourth set, delivering six kills on ten swings without an error. Rohling was perfect in the set, four kills on four attempts, and McMahon added a vital kill late in the set when Cincinnati had cut the lead to 22-21. An attack error from Cincinnati's Shaye Eggleston brought the Shockers to match point, and McMahon tapped home an overpass on the ensuing serve to secure the victory.
Libero Lily Liekweg was honored prior to the match as the Shockers lone senior, and reached double figures with 10 digs. Lara Uyar matched her total, while Kelly fell just one dig shy of another double-double, settling for nine.