Thursday, September 15
UCF 3, Omaha 2 – Box Score
Texas Tech 3, SMU 1 – Box Score
Baylor 3, Tulsa 0 – Box Score
Texas 3, Houston 1 – Box Score
UCF 3, Omaha 2 – Box Score
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The UCF volleyball team topped Omaha in a five-set thriller 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 16-25, 25-16, 15-12).
This was the Knight's third five-set victory of the season. All three have happened in the same fashion. Dropping the first and third sets but winning the second, fourth, and fifth.
In set one, McKenna Melville and Emily Wilson quickly imposed their will. Melville had six kills in the first set and Wilson had five kills while hitting a staggering .556. The Mavericks would take the set still in a tightly contested back and forth affair 25-23.
The second set was another tight one until the Knights went on a 7-0 run to give them a 21-12 lead. The Knights ended up winning the set 25-19, finishing the set on a 10-5 run.
Omaha won the third set 25-16 without ever giving up the lead putting the Knight's backs against the wall.
UCF responded with a 25-16 win of their own. Much like the second set, the Black and Gold went on a big run to close the set, scoring seven of the final eight points.
Omaha would start the fifth set with an ace but that was the only lead they would hold. UCF immediately tied it up with a kill from Melville, followed that with a kill from Katelyn Grimes to take the lead and they never trailed again. They would go on to take the fifth set 15-12.
Melville was incredible yet again tonight. Her 27 kills moved her 29 kills away from setting the school record for kills. She hit .333 with 10 digs and four blocks.
Amber Olson was also huge for the Knights. Her 48 assists were pivotal to the UCF offense.
The Knights move to 6-0 and will face Kansas tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. ET. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
Texas Tech 3, SMU 1 – Box Score
LUBBOCK, Texas – LUBBOCK, Texas – SMU fell in a hard-fought match (18-25, 25-16, 23-25, 29-27) against Texas Tech at United Supermarkets Arena Thursday.
The Mustangs dropped to 5-5 on the season, while the Red Raiders moved to 9-1. Texas Tech owns a 9-2 advantage in the all-time series, including 3-1 on its home floor.
SMU staved off three match points before succumbing in extra rallies. Knotted at 23-23 the Mustangs first of three service errors at the end of the contest derailed their opportunity to close out the set and force a fifth. Natalie Perdue extended the match with a kill and evening the set at 24-all. Jamison Wheeler followed suit after another miscue at the service line. A third errant serve erased the visitor's first set point, but Marieke van der Mark nudged the Mustangs in front with a kill. The Red Raiders answered with the next two tallies.
After trading blowouts by each side in the first two games, Texas Tech claimed a tightly contested third, which featured 16 draws and seven lead changes. Neither squad pulled away and a kill by Alex Glover squared things at 23-23, before the host captured the 2-1 advantage, after securing the final two points.
A 7-4 advantage in the middle of the opening game pushed Texas Tech out to a 20-14 cushion, en route to the early 1-0 lead. SMU turned the tide, with a wire-to-wire victory in the next game. The Mustangs jumped out to a 9-1 gap and never looked back, outhitting the Red Raiders .321-.185 and cruising to a nine-point triumph.
Baylor 3, Tulsa 0 – Box Score
WACO, Texas — The University of Tulsa volleyball team could not out-play a potent Baylor offense on the road Thursday, losing to the No. 14 ranked Bears in straight sets (20-25, 18-25, 17-25).
The non-conference loss dropped the Golden Hurricane to 5-5 on the season.
Kayley Cassaday finished with 15 kills on the day to lead the Hurricane offense while finishing with a hitting percentage of .275. She also contributed a solo block and a service ace. Brayden Hipp boosted the offense with a team-high 14 assists.
Defensively, Marta Pecalli led Tulsa with 14 digs.
The Hurricane faces the McNeese Cowgirls next in the Baylor Classic tomorrow at 10 a.m.
Kayley Cassaday recorded 40 total attacks during the loss, raising her season total to 522. Tulsa was held to a .111 hitting percentage while the Bears reached a hitting percentage of .315. There were 21 tie scores throughout the match.
Texas 3, Houston 1 – Box Score
AUSTIN, Texas – After getting out to a scorching hot start and forcing top ranked Texas to use both of its timeouts inside of the first 15 points of the match, the University of Houston volleyball team fell 3-1 on Thursday night in Gregory Gym (17-25, 25-16, 25-12, 25-22).
Graduate Kennedy Warren paced the Cougars' offense with a team-leading, and season-best 13 kills on a .370 attacking percentage. Junior Kate Georgiades led all players with 12 digs.
Houston (8-2) recorded 45 kills in the match compared to Texas' (7-0) 51 kills. The Longhorns out-blocked the Cougars 8-7, but the difference came from the service line, where the home team racked up 10 aces in the match and kept the traveling Cougars out of system in the second and third sets.
With the loss, Houston's eight match winning streak comes to an end.