Last night, the Bearcats (5-13) (3-5 AAC) welcome in UCF (16-1) (8-1 AAC) to Fifth Third Arena as they kick off another two-game home stand that will feature UCF yesterday and USF on Sunday. The Knights come into this match sitting right outside the AVCA top 25 rankings as the continue to receive votes in the latest polls. However, the Knights are leading the AAC where they are led by graduate outside hitter Mckenna Melville. Melville is in her fifth year of eligibility after taking advantage of the covid year. Melville was named AAC Player of the Year the last two seasons as she is coming off a season where she led the nation in kills with 617 during her senior season as she looks to lead the Knights to a third consecutive AAC Championship.
However, this could be an interesting match as the Bearcats height at the net could play in their favor vs a talented outside hitter as freshman Avry Tatum and Carly Glendinning each stand 6-foot-1 respectfully along with Kailea Carrier the Bearcats have the height at the net to disrupt the Knights. The Bearcats know that the Knights are a very talented team, but look back at the Bearcats schedule this season, they have played very well vs nationally ranked teams as they played three top ranked teams to kick off the season in No. 10 Pittsburgh, No. 7 BYU and Illinois State.
Starters for the Bearcats- Abby Walker, Kailea Carrier, Payton Frederick, Emme Madden, Elissa Alcantara, Carly Glendinning, Avry Tatum
Starters for the Knights- McKenna Melville, Chloe Scheer, Amber Olson, Kari Zumach, Abby Hansen, Katelyn Grimes, Claudia Dillion.
Set 1- The Knights would take an early 3-1 lead following a huge solo block on the outside by Mckenna Melville, but the Bearcats would tie this match at four following a huge block from Abby Walker, as Shaye Eggleston would follow up with a big-time service ace to give the Bearcats the early momentum. The Bearcats would use their height to their advantage early at the net as it seemed like they were getting touches early as the Bearcats were battling back and forth with the Knights early, but the Knights would take a 12-9 lead following a service ace from Dresden Pass. The Bearcats were forced to take an early timeout trailing 14-10 as the Knights offense was starting to catch fire where they would eventually push their lead to five following consecutive kills from Heidi Bonde and Claudia Dillion, as the Knights would take a 17-12 lead shortly after the Bearcats timeout. The Knights would end the match on an 8-1 run to take Set 1, 25-14 as the Knights hit at a .600% clip in the first set as they were playing very smart with the ball early and found their seams in the Bearcats defense as they were looking to prove why they are leading the AAC early tonight after a dominant first set for the Knights.
