Knight Cap: Volleyball Returns Home, Women’s Soccer Extends AAC Unbeaten Streak

This past weekend of UCF Knights sports saw one team maintain its unbeaten conference-play record, another team rebound from its first conference loss and another team receive a setback in its conference slate.

Plus, we name the Knight of the Weekend and the Knights Play of the Weekend in your latest Knight Cap for Tuesday, October 18th, 2022.

---

Volleyball Picks Up Two More Conference Sweeps

The UCF Volleyball team swept both of its AAC opponents, Temple and East Carolina, in The Venue this weekend.

McKenna Melville led the team with 37 total kills on the weekend, plus six blocks and 18 digs, putting her to over 1,500 digs for her career. She is the 4th player in program history to achieve that feat, joining Jordan Pingel, Meredith Murphy, and Miriam Metzcus.

While Melville had a productive defensive weekend, it was libero Chloe Scheer who led the team in digs in both matches, totaling 21 on the weekend. Scheer also got to wear a pink libero jersey in Friday’s match against Temple in honor of the team’s “Dig Pink” match for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“I’m not only supporting the whole entire Breast Cancer Awareness community, but we have players on the team who have dealt with relatives who have had breast cancer,” Scheer said.

On Sunday, the team also debuted its Citronaut uniforms.

“That’s something that we’ve always wanted, was to be included in that tradition,” head coach Todd Dagenais said. “To have a space uniform dedicated for Volleyball, I thought it looked incredible.”

The team also honored Tanya Jarvis in the Venue’s Ring of Honor. Jarvis played at UCF from 2001-2004 and is a member of the 1,000-kill club.

“I was a local kid, so playing for UCF was definitely a dream of mine,” Jarvis said. “I was blessed to be able to wear the black and gold. So, to see my number and name go up there, it’s really cool.”

The sweeps kept the Knights in 2nd place in the American Athletic Conference, trailing Houston by one match in the loss column. However, the Knights slid out of the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and down to No. 17 in the RPI Rankings.

The Knights continue their conference schedule on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against USF in The Venue, followed by a road trip to Cincinnati at 6 p.m. on Friday.

---

Women’s Soccer edges Tulsa

The UCF Women’s Soccer team defeated Tulsa, 3-2, to keep its unbeaten streak in AAC play alive.

Forwards Kristen Scott and Dayana Martin were involved in all three UCF goals.

First, Scott got an equalizing goal in the 23rd minute with an assist from Martin, followed by a go-ahead goal by Martin with an assist from Scott.

After the Golden Hurricane tied the match up with a goal in the 52nd minute, Scott responded with what ultimately was the match-winning goal, with an assist from Martin.

Scott was named AAC Offensive Player of the Week, and goalkeeper Caroline DeLisle was named the AAC’s Goalkeeper of the Week for the fourth time this season.

The win kept the Knights at the top of the AAC table and brought them up to No. 32 in the RPI Rankings.

They will host their final two regular-season home matches of the season against East Carolina on Thursday at 6 p.m., and Houston at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

---

Men’s Soccer Upset by UAB

The UCF Men’s Soccer team sustained another blow in AAC play with a loss at UAB, 3-1.

The Knights had only an own goal to their name for the match as they got outshot by the Blazers, 12-9.

The own goal came in the 75th minute courtesy of forward Gino Vivi, whose shot ricocheted off UAB forward Benedict Erhard and into the back of the net, pulling UCF within 2-1.

However, UAB responded five minutes later with an insurance goal to put it away.

The loss dropped UCF to 8th in the American Athletic Conference standings, on the outside looking into the six-team conference tournament, and 91st in the RPI Rankings.

The Knights will look to rebound on Friday at 7 p.m. as they return home to host No. 19-ranked Charlotte.

---

Cross Country Runs Last Regular Season Meet in Texas

The UCF Cross Country team laced up for its last regular season meet on Saturday in the Arturo Barrios Invitational 6K, hosted by Texas A&M.

True freshman Isabella Richardson led the pack with a 21:38.7 time, which put her 41st out of 326 total runners. Joining Richardson in the Top 100 was sophomore Lillian Holtery, who set a new 6K personal best at 22:02.9 and notched a 64th-place finish.

Three other Knights joined Holtery in running new 6K personal bests.

The Knights finished 13th out of the 38 teams that competed. They finished 78 points behind Tulane and 205 points behind SMU, both programs they will have to line up against once more in less than two weeks.

The team will travel to Tulsa for the American Athletic Conference Championship on October 28th.

---

Women’s Tennis Quartet Competes in Atlanta

Four UCF Women’s Tennis players were in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend, competing in the ITA Southeast Regional Championships.

In doubles play, redshirt sophomore Anique Kattenberg and junior Jaleesa Leslie won three of their four matches en route to a win in the consolation bracket Final against FIU, 8-6.

Senior Marie Mattel and redshirt senior Nandini Sharma beath FSU and Florida duos before falling in the quarterfinals to North Florida, 8-7 (8-6).

In singles, Mattel made it to the quarters, upsetting Miami’s Isabella Pfennig, the tournament’s No. 5 seed (6-3, 6-1). She lost to the tournament’s No. 1 seed Carol Lee (6-4, 6-0).

While Sharma and Kattenberg went winless in singles play for the tournament, Leslie picked up a 1st-round victory over USF’s Cliona Walsh (6-0, 6-4) before being defeated by No. 3 seed Lea Ma of Georgia (2-6, 4-6).

While the team’s next event, the Jacksonville Classic, is slated for Oct. 28-30, two Knights are currently in action in the ITF’s W25 event in Fort Worth, Texas.

Keep an eye out for next week’s Knight Cap to learn how they did.

---

Knight of the Week

Kristen Scott, Women’s Soccer

In her 68 minutes of playing time, Scott finished the game against Tulsa with six total shots, five of which were on goal. The entire Tulsa Golden Hurricane finished the match with six shots on goal.

---

Play of the Week

Kristen Scott scores equalizer against Tulsa