Friday, Feb. 19

No. RV UCF 3, Temple 0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-16)	Box Score
USF 3, East Carolina 2 (25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 18-25, 15-6)	Box Score

No. RV UCF 3, Temple 0

The UCF volleyball team (8-0, 2-0) completed the sweep over Temple (5-3, 1-3) on Friday to maintain the Knights' perfect start to the season. The win moved the Knights to 8-0, surpassing their best start to a season since 2010 and just one shy of the 1983 squad's start to the year.

"We don't really look at being 8-0, it's just nice to get a positive start in conference," said head coach Todd Dagenais. "We will enjoy this road sweep like we do with all other road sweeps… with ice cream. Then we will jump on the plane tomorrow and get back and prepare for our next match."

With the win, the Knights are now 2-0 in conference play. Over the course of the rest of the regular season, UCF will have six matches remaining with three other American Athletic Conference opponents in ECU, Cincinnati and South Florida.

A day after a nailbiter with the Owls, the Knights seemed to put it all together on Friday, winning each set by a margin of six or more.

The Knights fell behind in set one but rallied back in a big way, going on an 8-0 run at the end of the set to clinch the win, 25-19, but the Knights' best was yet to come.

In set two, the Knights went up 13-7 to force Temple to call a timeout, but the UCF momentum could not be slowed. The Knights went on to outpace the Owls 12-5 over the back half of the set to secure the 25-12 set victory.

The Knights kept that energy rolling into the final set, going up 3-0 before Temple answered back with a point of their own. The Owls managed to keep the score close for much of the set, cutting it to just a one-point deficit at one point, but it wouldn't be enough as the Knights kicked it into extra gear later in the set to put it away, 25-16, securing the 3-0 sweep.

McKenna Melville secured her second double-double of the season after turning in a 15 kill, 10 dig effort.

Anne-Marie Watson also enjoyed a nice day on the floor, hitting .389 for 8 kills. She also had four block assists and two digs.

DAGENAIS DIALOUGE:

[On what led to the win]
"Offensively, we were able to take advantage of some opportunities that we didn't take advantage of yesterday. It was just enough offense to give us a cushion. The blocking and the defense is really what came up big for us today, and the serving game was the MVP. We had them off balance nearly the entire match with our serve."

[On how the team kept momentum]
"Tough serves limited their options to only one or two which really allowed our block to hone in on what they were trying to score with. I was really proud of our effort on the second day of a road trip that's been challenging from the beginning. I hope this means we are starting to mature as a team. That second set run was completely predicated on our ability to vary the depth and location of our serves. And our transition attack was pretty strong after we picked up the initial dig."

[On starting 8-0]
"We don't really look at being 8-0, it's just nice to get a positive start in conference. We will enjoy this road sweep like we do with all other road sweeps… with ice cream. Then we will jump on the plane tomorrow and get back and prepare for our next match."

USF 3, East Carolina 2

The USF women's volleyball team (5-3; 3-1 AAC) completed a two-match sweep of ECU (1-4; 0-3 AAC) taking the second matchup between the programs in as many days in five sets Friday in Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C.

The Bulls took control from the outset, building an eight-point lead in the first set, as they took the first two stanzas. ECU mounted a charge taking the next two sets before USF was dominant in the fifth set, taking a 15-6 victory to seal a 3-2 win: 25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 18-25, 15-6.

The Bulls were led in kills for the sixth straight match by freshmen Marta Cvitkovic (Rijeka, Croatia) who posted a career high 24 to go with nine digs and two blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Makayla Washington (Tallahassee) also posted a career-best with 16 kills and added four digs and two blocks.

Freshman Agata Plaga (Gizycko, Poland) posted 14 kills and two blocks, while sophomore Madison Lyons (Red Wing, Minn.) led the Bulls with four blocks and added three kills. Junior setter Maria Idjilov (Chisinau, Moldova) posted her fourth double-double of the season with 33 assists and 10 digs while CC Clausen (The Woodlands, Texas) led the team with a career-best 37 digs.

The Bulls jumped to an early 9-5 lead in the first set following a service ace from freshmen Eke Denessen (Venlo, Netherlands). She would post three overall in the match. The Bulls built an 8-point led following an ace from Idjilov, but ECU rallied with an 8-1 run to cut the USF lead to one, 17-16. USF responded with a Cvitkovic kill and maintained control the rest of the way for a 25-23 win.

The second set went much the same way, as USF jumped to a 6-2 lead and led 20-15 before the Pirates cut the margin to one at 24-23. Again, Cvitkovic responded with a kill to end the set, 25-23.

ECU turned the tables in the third set after USF took an early 6-3 lead on a Clausen ace. The Pirates seized their first lead of the match at 8-7, and built a 17-12 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Plaga and Washington cut the lead to two, 17-15. A big block from Washington and Jac St. Cin (St. Petersburg) helped cut the lead to one, 22-21, but ECU stabilized after a timeout and took the third set, 25-22.

ECU built an 8-3 lead in the fourth set to force a Bulls timeout. A Washington kill stopped the momentum for a bit, but ECU lead 12-7 before another Cvitkovic kill cut the lead to four. ECU rebuilt a 21-13 lead, before the Bulls cut the margin to five. ECU would let them get no closer, forcing a fifth set with a 25-18 win.

In the fifth, USF forged an early 5-2 lead to force an ECU timeout. The Bulls took an 8-3 lead on a Washington block. ECU took another timeout trailing 10-4, but USF kept up the pressure and St. Cin's kill ended it with a 15-6 USF victory.

NOTABLE
• Marta Cvitkovic led the Bulls in kills for the sixth-straight match with a career-best 24.
• CC Clausen led USF with a career-best 37 digs.
• Makayla Washington posted a career-best 16 kills
• Masha Idjilov logged her fourth double-double of the season with 33 assists and 10 digs.