LOS ANGELES – For the second time in three seasons UCF has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. The Knights raced out to a 2-0 lead and enjoyed a solid offensive performance throughout to down Pepperdine in four sets (25-19, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21) on Friday night in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA tournament at Pauley Pavilion.
 
UCF (27-6) will face the winner of either national No. 13 seed UCLA (23-5) or Fairfield (24-8) in the second round of the NCAA Championship on Dec. 4 at 10 p.m. (ET).
 
UCF finished the first-round match against Pepperdine hitting .294 as a team, paced by American Athletic Conference Player of the Year McKenna Melville with a team-high 25 kills and 18 digs. Conference setter of the year Amber Olson logged 44 assists and six digs for the Knights, and Nerissa Moravec chipped in 10 block assists. Anne-Marie Watson finished the contest with eight kills and eight block assists in the victory.
 
UCF advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the fourth time overall, along with prior first-round tournament victories in 1997, 2003 and 2019. Since the conference was reconstituted in 2013, UCF, Cincinnati (2018-19), SMU (2016) and Wichita State (2017) have earned wins in the NCAA tournament as members of The American.
 
American Athletic Conference Women’s Volleyball
2021 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship
 
NCAA First Round – Friday, Dec. 3
UCF 3, Pepperdine 1 (25-19, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21)
 
NCAA Second Round – Saturday, Dec. 4
UCF vs. Fairfield/No. 13 UCLA – Los Angeles, Calif. (10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT)