East Carolina Drops 3-0 Decision At UCF

Saturday, October 29

Orlando, Fla.

1:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

14-8, 4-8AAC

UCF

18-7, 8-4AAC

East Carolina

UCF

October 29, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

ORLANDO, Fla. – The East Carolina volleyball team ended its weekend on the road with a 3-0 (25-27, 21-25, 20-25) loss at UCF Saturday afternoon.

Team Records: East Carolina: (14-8, 4-8 AAC) | UCF: (18-7, 8-4 AAC)

Torbett's Take: "It comes down to execution and UCF executed better than we did today. I thought we won the serving and blocking game but we need more kills from the offense. We can't resort to tips and free balls when we can put good swings on the ball. I look forward to our last eight matches and seeing how we can improve from this point forward."

The Rundown: Junior middle hitter Natalie Montini paced the ECU offense with 10 kills while senior setter Sabrina Gonzalez tallied her 14th double-double of the campaign to the tune of 32 assists and 11 digs. Freshman libero Brandee Markwith led four Pirate players in double figures defensively with 17 digs as senior outside hitters Sydney Darden and I'Tiana Taylor notched 12 and 11 respectively. Montini also led the way at the net with four blocks. Jale Hervey was the top offensive performer for the Knights, putting down 20 kills to go along with 13 digs, two blocks and a .372 hitting percentage.

UCF hit .233 in the match on the strength of 49 kills and limited East Carolina to 35 kills and a .134 hitting mark. The Knights also out-dug the Pirates 65-61 while ECU racked up eight blocks to UCF's 4.5. Both teams stayed fairly low error, committing only 18 apiece.

Set One: With UCF holding a 13-11 lead in a tight first frame, the Pirates kept fighting and took a 17-16 lead on a Darden kill. ECU kept the pressure on and eventually extended its cushion to 22-19, forcing a Knight timeout. UCF responded with four straight to pull ahead 23-22, but East Carolina used two attacking errors to take a set point at 24-23. The Pirates were not able to put the home team away, however, as the Knights rallied for the win in extra points.

Set Two: UCF took the upper hand early, building an 11-6 lead after a Pirate attacking error. East Carolina attempted to cut into the deficit and did so after a Montini kill made it 13-10. A kill by senior middle hitter Ashley McRae brought the Purple and Gold all the way back into a tie at 17, but the Knights found their footing and scored five straight before ECU called for its final timeout of the frame. That would be enough for UCF to win it by four.

Set Three: The teams battled through a close third set early on. Midway through, the Knights started to create some separation and held off ECU in the end, winning the stanza by five and completing the sweep.

Bits and Pieces: UCF improves to 12-5 in home matches while East Carolina drops to 7-4 on the road … The Knights now lead the series with the Pirates 14-9 … McRae took over eighth place on the program career blocks list … ECU needs just two wins in its final eight matches to record its first winning season since 2006.

Up Next: East Carolina returns home next weekend for a pair of AAC matches against Tulsa and SMU. The Pirates will battle the Golden Hurricane Friday at 7 p.m. inside Minges Coliseum.