Nov. 17, 2005

Final Stats

UCF advances to the second round of the 2005 Conference USA Volleyball Championship playing in its first campaign in the league. After falling 30-22 in game one, the Golden Knights pulled off three consecutive sets en route to upsetting eight-ranked Memphis, 3-1 (22-30, 30-24, 30-24, 30-24), in the first match of the tournament. UCF entered the 2005 tournament as the ninth-seed and will face top-ranked Marshall tomorrow in the second round at 1 p.m. (CT) in Rice's Autry Court.

"We knew that Memphis would give us a tough match and obviously it is great to come in for your first year and win the opening match," said UCF head coach Meg Colado, who is now 8-3 in conference tournaments. Under Colado's leadership, she has led the Golden Knights to three Atlantic Sun Championship titles in the last four years.

The Tigers dominated game one as freshman Laura Cote posted 16 assists and had six digs, while Ashley Liford tallied five kills to led all players. But Memphis' key to success in the first stanza was its blocking as the Tigers had five team blocks, while UCF did not have any blocks.

Setter Leah Alexander emerged to set the tone for the Knights in the next three sets as Alexander had 44 assists, 14 in game four alone.

"I really thought our setter moved the ball well today," Colado stated. "She did a great job of exploiting their weaknesses and truly set the tone late in the match."

Maina Heming and Schanell Neiderworder each posted double-double performances for the Golden Knights, while Lorin Lukas was one dig shy of the feat. Heming had 13 kills and 19 digs and Neiderworder posted 15 kills and 10 digs. Lukas had 13 kills for the winning effort.

Cote finished with a match-high 56 assists, while Liford led all players with 17 kills in match one of the C-USA Championship.

A complete schedule of the 2005 Conference USA Volleyball Championship follows:

2005 C-USA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

Thursday, November 17, 2005:
Match 1 - (9) UCF def. (8) Memphis, 3-1 (22-30, 30-24, 30-24, 30-24)
Match 2 - (12) Southern Miss vs. (5) East Carolina, 3 p.m.
Match 3 - (11) Tulane vs. (6) Rice, 6 p.m.
Match 4 - (10) UAB vs. (7) SMU, 8 p.m.

Friday, November 18, 2005:
Match 5 - (1) Marshall vs. Winner of UCF/Memphis, 1 p.m.
Match 6 - (4) UTEP vs. Winner of Southern Miss/East Carolina, 3 p.m.
Match 7 - (3) Tulsa vs. Winner of Tulane/Rice, 6 p.m.
Match 8 - (2) Houston vs. Winner of UAB/SMU, 8 p.m.

Saturday, November 19, 2005 (Semifinals):
Match 9 - Winner of Match 5 vs. Winner of Match 6, 5 p.m.
Match 10 - Winner of Match 7 vs. Winner of Match 8, 7 p.m.

Sunday, November 20, 2005 (Championship):
Match 11 - Championship Match (CSTV), 4 p.m.

All Times Central.
All matches will be played at Autry Court, Houston, Texas.