Friday, November 25
UCF 3, Houston 2 – Box Score
Cincinnati 3, East Carolina 0 – Box Score
SMU 3, Tulsa 0 – Box Score
Wichita State 3, Memphis 1 – Box Score
Tulane 3, South Florida 0 – Box Score
Recaps
UCF 3, Houston 2 – Box Score
ORLANDO – In a five-set (20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12) thriller, the UCF volleyball team (27-1, 19-1 American) defeated Houston (28-3, 19-1 American) to take a share of the AAC Championship Friday night at The Venue. This is the fifth straight year that the Knights have won the conference championship and the sixth time in ten years.
The Cougars started the first set strong, going on a 5-0-point streak to prompt a Knight timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Claudia Dillon recorded her first kill of the night to get UCF started. Despite their best efforts, the Knights were unable to grab the lead at any point in time during the first set, only tying it up with Houston twice. Houston took the first set with a score of 25-20, ending the set with a block from Rachel Tullos and Isabel Theut.
The second set was more successful for the Knights. Three quick kills from McKenna Melville put the Black and Gold up 5-1. From there, it was a back-and-forth set, tying the game seven times with both teams unable to go on any long scoring runs. The endurance of the teams was tested extensively during this set, with numerous long rallies and UCF coming out on top. Chloe Scheer ended the second set on a high note, scoring an ace to even up the sets won, 1-1.
Coming off the high of the second set, the Knights had a dominant start to the third set, going up 6-2 thanks to three huge kills from Kari Zumach. This lead never faltered, with no ties or lead changes through the set. Similar to the second set, the rallies were long but thanks to the backrow's hustle, the Knights were able to put the ball away to gain the points needed to succeed. Some of the strongest serving runs of the match were seen in this set, with Katelyn Grimes going on two long runs, complete with an ace. The Black and Gold took the set with a score of 25-21 after a service error from Houston to put them one set away from a share of the conference championship.
The Cougars came back forcefully in the fourth set, taking a commanding 6-2 lead. There were a few high points of the set for the Knights, however. Dillon hit a perfect 1.000, earning kills on each of the four swings she took. Back-to-back attacking errors from UCF forced a timeout, who then bounced back with a huge block from Abby Hansen and Heidi Bonde to give the Knights the sideout that they needed. This momentum was short-lived, the Cougars winning the set 25-19 to force a fifth set.
The fifth set was closely contested, with eight score ties and four lead changes. Another kill from Dillon put the Knights up 1-0, but it was quickly tied after an attacking error. The set was back-and-forth from that point on, neither team able to take more than a two-point lead, until the very end. Dillon had another phenomenal set, going five kills for five attempts, with back-to-back kills forcing a timeout from Houston at 11-9. The Knights earned 12 kills in the set, putting their offensive dominance on display. Hansen and Melville polished off the match with a fifth-consecutive AAC Championship.
The defensive specialists had a phenomenal night, with Dresden Pass, Grimes, and Scheer combining for a total of 44 digs in the match. They were able to move quickly on their feet in the long rallies to cover blocks and gain assists when needing to go out-of-system.
Many career- and season-high records were broken tonight, both offensively and defensively. Dillon had herself a night, notched 18 kills on 23 attempts and only made one error, leading the Knights with a .739 kill percentage. These 18 kills are a new career-high for her, shattering her previous record of 11. Scheer earned herself a new season-high record for digs, with 22. She was only one dig away from tying her career record of 23. Amber Olson recorded a new career-high number of assists in the victory against Houston, with 60. Her previous record was 58, earned this season against Kansas State. Pass collected a new season-high for digs, her 13 digs surpassing the 11 she earned against Wichita State.
Melville continued her trend of breaking records left and right. After becoming just the 10th Division I player to earn 2,500 kills last game against Tulane, she recorded a season-high of swings taken, swinging 80 times throughout the five sets. Her 29 kills for the night tied her season record for kills.
Cincinnati 3, East Carolina 0 – Box Score
CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati volleyball team hit a season-high .438 to earn a 3-0 victory over East Carolina on Friday night in Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats improve to 10-19 overall and 8-11 in The American with one conference match remaining.
Four Bearcats hit above .400 in the sweep, including a team-high 13 kills from sophomore Shaye Eggleston. She had only one attacking error on 21 attempts for a career-high .571 hitting percentage.
Redshirt senior Kailea Carrier (9k/.571pct), sophomore Abby Walker (9k/.412pct) and senior Madison Waters (5k/.444pct) also provided efficient offensive performances in the win. Freshman Carly Glendinning added 10 kills with only two attacking errors.
Freshman setter Caroline Endres guided the Bearcats to their best offensive output of the season with 41 assists. UC finished with 46 kills and only seven attacking errors on 89 attempts.
Senior Payton Frederick steadied the Bearcats' defense with a team-high 19 digs – the most by a Bearcat in a three-set match this season. Cincinnati was +10 digs (40-30).
SMU 3, Tulsa 0 – Box Score
DALLAS – Senior Rachel Woulfe, who appeared in 113 matches during her career, delivered a performance for the ages in her final contest in an SMU jersey, helping her team to a 3-0 sweep of Tulsa Friday.
The Mustangs punctuated the 2022 campaign in dominating fashion, defeating the Golden Hurricane 27-25, 25-18, 25-13 in American Athletic Conference Action at Moody Coliseum.
Wolfe slammed home 55% of her attacks, registering 11 kills on 20 swings, without a miscue, with four blocks and a pair of digs.
SMU posted a 22-10 mark, including 15-5 in league play, while the Golden Hurricane capped the season at 13-18, 6-13.
The 22 wins by the Mustangs rank fifth-most in program history, while the 15 league victories sit fourth.
SMU outhit Tulsa .400 to .205 in the frame and registered four blocks, overcoming seven errors at the service line and staved off a pair of set points to grab the early advantage. Jadyn Bauss led the Mustangs with six kills, while Jamison Wheeler put away five swings.
In game two, SMU rode a 17-9 spurt to its largest lead of the contest at 24-15. Tulsa fended off three set points before Bauss slammed home the winner, number 12 of the day for the Frisco, Texas, native.
Knotted 3-3 in game three, the Mustangs raced out to an 18-10 advantage, forcing the Golden Hurricane to burn their second time out of the stanza. The delay only slowed the momentum of SMU, winning seven of the final 10 points to secure the victory.
Wichita State 3, Memphis 1 – Box Score
MEMPHIS -- Wichita State got 20 kills from Brylee Kelly to wrap up the regular season with a road win, defeating Memphis 25-21, 25-21, 25-27, 25-16 on Friday afternoon at the Larry O. Finch Center.
The Shockers (18-12, 13-6 American) end the regular season having won seven of the last eight matches to finish in fourth place in the American Athletic Conference standings.
Kelly provided the heroics in each of the first two sets, helping the Shockers pull away for identical 25-21 wins. In the opener, the Tigers (18-15, 8-12 American) led 21-20 after a kill from Gigi Crescenzo. Natalie Foster struck for back-to-back kills to take the lead, then teamed with Kelly to deny Jasmyn Tate for a 23-21 advantage. Kelly followed by putting down two more kills to clinch the opening set. Wichita State committed just one attack error in the frame, hitting .390.
The second set was nearly identical in script. Two Foster kills erased a Memphis lead to put the Shockers up 22-21, Kayce Litzau dumped in a critical point, and Kelly provided the exclamation point with two more kills for another 25-21 win. Six different Shockers had multiple kills in the set.
Memphis stayed alive with a back-and-forth win in the third set. There were 12 ties in the stanza, including deadlocks at 23-23, 24-24, and 25-25. The Shockers committed five service errors in the third, including a miscue to bring up set point for the Tigers at 26-25. Foster blistered a swing from the middle out of play on the ensuing point to force a fourth set.
Wichita State took control early in the fourth set, highlighted by a 5-0 run in the middle stages to swell the advantage to 18-9. Kills from Foster, Morgan Stout and Kelly down the stretch made it 23-12, but Memphis made one last rally. The Tigers scored four straight points to cut the WSU lead to 23-16 and prompt a Wichita State timeout. Out of the break, Morgan Weber pushed a ball off the block for a kill, and Foster tapped down an overpass on match point to wrap up the victory.
Litzau authored one of the best performances of her 2022 season, matching a career high with 19 digs and a season high with 55 assists. She became just the eighth setter in program history to notch 3,000 career assists in the process, reaching 3,012 by match's end. Kelly contributed 11 digs in addition to her 20 kills, while Foster racked up 13 terminations. Sophia Rohling came alive in sets three and four, finishing with 11 kills, and both Morgan Stout and Weber each had nine.
Defensively, five Shockers ended up reaching double-figure digs (Litzau 19, Weber 17, Liekweg 15, Uyar 14, Kelly 11). Stout paced the Shockers with six blocks.
Tulane 3, South Florida 0 – Box Score
TAMPA – The Tulane Green Wave volleyball team ended the season with a 3-0 win over South Florida on Friday night winning in consecutive set 25-23, 29-27, 25-15. Tulane ends the season 9-22 overall and 4-16 in The American. South Florida ends the season 10-20 overall and 4-14 in The American.
Melissa Kolurbasi and Mackenzie Martin both finished with double-digit digs for Tulane. Kahterin Crosley paced the match with 31 assists. Jillian DIts had a team-high 11 digs for the Green Wave.
Maria Clara Andrade had a match-high 13 kills for the Bulls, while Ally Barnhart added 10 kills. Kelsey O’Loughlin paced the Bulls with 20 assists. CC Clausen had a match-high 14 digs in the match.