With their first Big 12 triumph and the athletic program’s 800th Division I win on the line, UCF Volleyball and first-year head coach Matt Botsford broke out the brooms Wednesday evening, sweeping the Cincinnati
Bearcats to get the job done.
Botsford said it’s essential to honor the different generations and eras of UCF volleyball that steadily laid the foundation for the program’s 800th Division I win.
“I know I’m a small part of something much larger than me as a coach at a program like UCF,” Botsford said. “So much respect to anybody who had a hand in that, and I’m happy that I could contribute to it.”
The Black and Gold (10-3, 1-1) stormed out of the gates against the Bearcats (8-3, 0-1) at The Venue, dominating the first set 25-16 behind 16 kills and a .429 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Avah Armour’s powerful kill sealed the set, giving the Knights an early surge of momentum.
The second set quickly turned into a dogfight, with six tied scores and most of the action within one or two points. UCF’s largest lead of 21-16 shrank to just one point after a 4-0 Cincinnati run. Clinging to a 24-23 advantage, senior outside hitter Reaghan Thompson slammed down the winning kill to seal the set, 25-23.
Thompson earned Big 12 Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week honors—the first in program history—following a pair of standout performances at the Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa this past weekend.
She unleashed a season-best 12 blocks in last Friday’s four-set triumph over Memphis, the most by a Knight in a single match since Nerissa Moravec swatted 14 back in Houston on Nov. 26, 2021. With that monster performance, Thompson also blasted past 400 career blocks, joining an elite club of just 11 active Division I players with 400-plus to their name.
“She’s [Thompson] just so explosive both vertically and laterally, and when you have a middle that’s able to do that, it can cause problems for the other teams,” Botsford said. “She was impacting every swing that Cincinnati was taking.”
The third set began with a kill from the Bearcats, but UCF closed it out with the final point when junior middle blocker Ella Chapman and freshman setter Mikayla Porter teamed up on a block, securing a 25-20 victory. Coach Botsford credited the team’s success to strong defense, noting that blocks and digs were the keys not just to the third set, but to the entire match.
Freshmen liberos Alexa Haley and Sarah Mendoza put their bodies on the line for the Black and Gold, combining for 23 digs to keep their team in control. Haley led the effort with 12 digs and has recorded double-digit digs in each of her three starts this season.
“I’m so grateful to have a team like this around me and people that push me every single day to become a better player,” Haley said. “My goal every time I step on that court is just to make great opportunities for my team and to set my team up for success.”
Fifth-year outside hitter Skylar English was an offensive weapon against the Bearcats, racking up 16 kills with a staggering .500 hitting percentage while adding six digs on defense. This marks English’s eighth match of the season with double-digit kills.
“We played Baylor last week, and it was a good little dipping our toes into the water, but now we know what our focus is and what to expect,” English said. “We got a little taste of winning, and I think that it’s really lighting a fire leading into the rest of Big 12 play.”
English and the UCF volleyball squad aim for their second Big 12 win and to add to the program’s Division I victories in Boulder, Colorado, next Thursday. They will take on Colorado at 9:00 p.m. EDT.
