Texas Tech Athletics
8-9,1-4Big 12
UCF
14-2,5-0Big 12
UCF sweeps Red Raiders
October 04, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas – Graduate Caitlin Dugan led the team with 14 kills, but the UCF Knights, who are receiving votes in the AVCA poll, swept the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 9-25, 23-25, 17-25, on Wednesday night at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Dugan had one of the best offensive performances of her career for the Red Raiders (8-9, 1-4 Big 12) after totaling 14 kills on 23 attacks for a team-best .522 hitting clip. Sophomore Brynn Williams added six kills of her own and three digs, while freshman Reagan Engler hit .333 with three slams against UCF (14-2, 5-0 Big 12). Senior Reese Rhodes posted 23 assists on the night and junior Maddie Correa tallied a team-best seven digs.
UCF and Texas Tech were close at the very beginning of set one as the Red Raiders cut into UCF's lead at 3-2 with a kill from Dugan and an attack error by Abby Hansen. The Knights responded with a 12-1 run for a 15-3 advantage. The Red Raiders received a block from Kate Hansen and Simone Overbeck to hold off the set point, but UCF would win the first set by a score of 25-9.
Tech took a 3-1 lead in set two on a kill from Dugan. UCF came back to take an 11-5 lead on a Red Raider attack error, then added a few more points for the 17-9 advantage. Tech didn't quit as the Scarlet and Black answered with a 7-0 run highlighted by an ace from Hansen and a kill from Dugan. Both teams would trade points after this, with Hansen picking up another ace, to come within one. However, the Knights held on to the lead for the remainder of the set and win it, 25-23.
Tech and UCF opened the third set all tied up at 4-4 thanks to an Engler slam. The Knights went up, 8-6, before the Red Raiders earned a kill from Emily Merrick to stop the run. Down 12-9, Dugan put down a kill to come within two. UCF pulled away, eventually leading 21-14 on a kill by Abby Hansen. The Red Raiders won three more points on kills from Kate Hansen, Currie Marusak and Dugan, but the Knights would take it, 25-17.
QUOTES
Head Coach Tony Graystone
Opening statement…
"Really, really poor start. No excuse, we needed to start out better. Just didn't look like we were ready to go. The second set was winnable, disappointed with how it ended because we didn't execute the way we needed to. Third set, they got a little separation, and it was tough. I thought Caitlin [Dugan] was outstanding today — she continues to just play at a really, really high level. I'm proud of her for that. I thought in the second half of the match, Brynn [Williams] did the same thing. But overall, really disappointing."
On UCF spreading its offense around…
"We knew going in that they're very balanced and they have two outside hitters that are really, really good… But they like to spread it around – we knew that was going to happen. I don't know if we saw anything from them that we weren't ready for. I felt good about the game plan we put together. It was solid and I thought the adjustments we were trying to make in the match were the right ones. We just did a poor job of executing."
UP NEXT
The Red Raiders travel to Ames, Iowa for a Friday evening match against No. 25 Iowa State on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.
