With one final swing from outside hitter Fallon Stewart, the UCF Volleyball team capped a four-set upset victory (27–25, 25–21, 17–25, 25–21) over #17 BYU Cougars on Wednesday night in Provo, Utah.
The victory marks the Knights’ (13-8, 4-6 Big 12) first win over a ranked opponent on the road since beating #23 Kansas in 2022, and their first win over a ranked opponent in general since beating #22 Houston later that same season. It’s the fourth-highest-ranked opponent the Knights have defeated in their history and their seventh win over a ranked opponent overall.
UCF secured the win despite BYU’s strong serving advantage. The Cougars tallied 12 aces to the Knights’ three and only racked up five service errors to UCF’s 17, giving them a 21-point edge.
However, the Knights had a similar stark advantage on the attack. They outkilled BYU, 56-43, while the Cougars also committed 30 attack errors compared to UCF’s 19. This created a 24-point edge for UCF, effectively canceling out BYU’s advantage at the service line.
The first set was a back-and-forth battle, featuring 13 tied scores and seven lead changes, but 14 attack errors by BYU ultimately allowed the Knights to come out on top, 27-25.
UCF pulled away late in the second set to win, 25-21, but BYU bounced back in the third, using consistent serving and efficient kills to take the set, 25-17.
With the score tied at 6-6 in the fourth set, the Knights pulled ahead with a service error from BYU and never let the Cougars draw even again, finishing the frame 25-21 to seal the 3-1 match victory.
Armour, the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, notched her third-straight match with 25 or more kills. The outside hitter totaled 80 kills over the three-match stretch, adding to the 55 kills she recorded in last week’s two contests against Texas Tech and Houston.
Setter Abby Schomers and Haley anchored the Knights’ defense that held the Cougars to a .112 hitting percentage with 10 digs apiece. Middle blocker Sasha Cohen contributed a career-high seven total blocks, helping UCF record 11 team blocks and matching BYU’s total.
The Knights travel to Salt Lake City for a 1 p.m. match against Utah on Friday.
