Saturday, December 3
Houston 3, Auburn 2 – Box Score
Penn State 3, UCF 1 – Box Score
 
Recaps
Houston 3, Auburn 2 – Box Score
OMAHA, Neb. – The #23 University of Houston volleyball team's season will continue. The Cougars, who had just won a five-set thriller the day prior, kept their campaign alive with the team's seventh win in five set matches this season, besting Auburn on Saturday night at the D.J. Sokol Arena.
 
Houston (30-3, 19-1 The American) advances to the Regional Semifinals which will be played at Stanford University. The Cougars will face host Stanford, who is ranked at #5 in the AVCA poll and is the one-seed in Houston's region of the bracket. The match will be played on Dec. 8. Match time and television information will be available soon.
 
The Cougars reached the 30-win threshold for the first time since the NCAA added volleyball in 1981. The team held Auburn to a .172 hitting percentage, improving to 24-0 this season when they hold their opponent to a sub-.200 efficiency.
 
Graduate Kennedy Warren led the Cougars with 17 kills in the match, her second consecutive match pacing the team in the category. Setters Annie Cooke and Morgan Janda combined for 49 assists, tallying 25 and 24, respectively. Cooke added four aces to her total, while Janda recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 15 digs.
 
Senior Abbie Jackson posted 14 kills and 13 digs, earning her 12th double-double of the year. Senior Rachel Tullos went 11-for-16 with only one error, posting a .625 hitting percentage. Graduate Kortlyn Henderson tallied eight kills, hitting .412, and sophomore Kellen Morin earned 10 kills with a .471 percentage.
 
Penn State 3, UCF 1 – Box Score
STATE COLLEGE, Penn.— The UCF volleyball team (28-2) ended its stellar season on Saturday night against Penn State (26-7) in the Rec Hall. The four-set loss (25-19, 25-18, 25-22, 25-21) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament ended the Knights' 16-game winning streak.
 
After a huge sweep over Yale in the first round of the tournament on Friday night, the Black and Gold advanced to the second round for the fifth time in program history and the third under head coach Todd Dagenais in the last four years.
 
McKenna Melville came out strong with a kill to start off the first set followed by a kill from Kari Zumach to take the Knights up 2-0. The Knights finished out with a kill from Abby Hansen to take the set, 25-19.
 
Once again, Melville started the set off with a kill, but Penn State answered back to knot it up and take the lead for the first time. The Nittany Lions took set two with a score of 25-18.
 
Zumach started set three out with a kill. The Nittany Lions and Knights traded points back-and-forth until Melville slammed down a kill to take the lead 5-4. Penn State tied it back up at 14-14, once again going back-and-forth until the Nittany Lions went on a 4-0 scoring run to take the set 25-22.
 
The Nittany Lions came out with a 2-0 lead in the fourth set. UCF set the tone after a 7-0 run ignited by Claudia Dillon with a kill followed by Dillon leading the serve. Penn State eased its way back in by tying it up at 17-17. Melville knotted it back up with a kill but the Nittany Lions fought back to go on a 3-0 run and cruise through the remainder of the match to win, 25-21.
 
Melville ended the night as the team's leader in kills with 20, along with 14 digs and two blocks. Heidi Bonde recorded 13 kills followed by Zumach with 12 kills.
 
Amber Olson led with 53 assists, adding in nine digs and two aces.