Looking for an encore to her AVCA All-American sophomore campaign, Sarden took her game to new heights in 2013. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native set career highs in kills, kills per set, attack percentage, service aces, solo blocks and points. Sarden led The American with a .409 attack percentage and 494 points while ranking fourth in kills per set (3.41) and ninth in blocks (1.05). She was also honored as the league’s Player of the Week three times.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone involved with UCF volleyball that DeLaina was a unanimous first-team selection,” Dagenais said. “Her numbers are on par with athletes being considered for All-American honors. She was a stronghold of our offense all year despite being often double-teamed. The numbers that she put up were absolutely remarkable for the situations she was hitting in. Being the overall leader in points and hitting percentage for this league as a middle is quite remarkable and that makes her worth of additional honors as we get into the awards part of our season.”

Crump finished just behind Sarden with 386 kills. The Atlanta, Ga., native finished her UCF career with 1,489 kills, the most in UCF history during the rally scoring era. Green led the team with 126 combined blocks and joined Sarden as the only players to start every match this season. Reiterova led The American with 11.39 assists per set and had a career-high 13 double-doubles. Hayes came up with 530 digs in her first season with the Knights, second most in program history for a single season.

“I think that the other four athletes receiving second-team honors ended up exactly where we thought they should be,” Dagenais continued. “When you have that many players on a second team, that’s a credit to the balance of your squad. If we featured just one or two players offensively, we’d have had more first team players, but our philosophy is balance. Balanced teams often find it difficult to put additional players on the first team.”

With their conference awards in hand, the Knights will now look at AVCA national awards. Region awards will be announced Tuesday, Dec. 10 with All-America teams coming Wednesday, Dec. 18.

The match featured high drama as the teams exchanged the lead 13 times to go along with 29 ties. The Bearcats (2-27, 2-13) showed off tremendous heart as they battled back from a 2-1 deficit to force a deciding fifth game with a four-point win in set four. The deciding stanza proved to be the most dramatic of all as the teams were deadlocked at one, two, three, four, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 before UCF put the match away with back-to-back points.

“We have to give Cincinnati a ton of credit,” Dagenais said. “We played hard and we didn’t always execute well, but we were really fortunate to win this match. I told everyone from the beginning if they thought this match was going to be a cakewalk they were nuts. Cincinnati is a team that’s been in a lot of close matches all year long and was coming off a big win at USF two nights ago. They are getting better and better. Coach (Molly) Alvey and her staff go in day in and day out and improve their program. They are really going in the right direction.”

Freshman outside hitter Taylor Gallart shined with 15 kills and eight digs while hitting .312. The Germantown, Md., native did not start the match, but once again provided a huge spark offensively for the Knights in relief. Senior Angelica Crump led the way with 19 kills on 50 swings, including four big hits in the final set. Junior DeLaina Sarden was solid in the middle, smacking 12 kills, hitting .312 and coming up with three block assists.

“I’m proud to be a UCF Knight,” Dagenais said when asked about win 100. “I’m proud of the players that we have and the coaching staff that we have and the fact that we’ve won 100 matches in the six years we’ve been here. We’ve turned the program and the culture around and that’s something we’re all really proud of. You look back on 100 wins and there’s just so much that goes into that. I’ve been really fortunate to be surrounded by great people, both in the gym and at home.”

Defensively is where the Black and Gold truly shined as they held Cincinnati to just a .117 attack percentage while racking up 68 digs and denying 13 shots at the net. Juniors Kaye-Alese Green and Loren Cory proved to be a formidable tandem block as they each set new-career highs with nine block assists apiece. Junior libero bounced back from her first single-digit dig effort in two months on Friday with a team-high 28 digs (5.60 per set). Freshman Shelby Foyer also got into the act from her middle back spot with 11 digs, her double-digit dig performance of her rookie season.

The Knights return to action next week for their last two home matches of the season against SMU and Houston. Friday night’s contest v. the Mustangs will be “Family Night” as family members of all players will be honored. That evening will also see the 2003 UCF Volleyball team celebrate its 10-year anniversary of reaching the NCAA tournament. Sunday’s home finale against the Cougars is “Senior Day” and will honor UCF’s two outgoing seniors, Crump and Roxy Mendez.

Earlier this season, UCF topped the Bulls (13-11, 7-3), 3-0, on Sept. 27 in front of a record crowd of 1,669 fans at VolleyBowl VI. Friday night’s match was a tightly-contested contest as USF took the Knights to the limit in the first and third sets. However, the Black and Gold’s defense was just too strong as it tied a season-high with 14 blocks while also winning the dig battle, 62-60. The Knights hit well below their season average at just a .162 clip, but responded well by holding USF to just a .101 mark.

“This is one of those matches we’ve prepared for all year long,” UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said. “This was a match that started off with two teams being nervous. I thought we settled in a little bit quicker than they did and we were able to put pressure on them and create some of their errors. The important thing for us is that we were on the road against our arch rival who’s ahead of us in the standings and we handled the pressure of those circumstances extremely well. This was the same type of match to what we had in Houston, but we learned from that experience and applied it to tonight.”

Junior DeLaina Sarden had a monster two-way game as she racked up 13 kills on 24 swings for a .458 attack percentage. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native also picked up a season-high 9 total blocks. Sarden was backed offensively by senior Angelica Crump who blasted 13 kills of her own while shouldering the heaviest offensive load on the team with 47 attempts. Junior setter Marie Reiterova dished out 32 assists while chipping in eight digs and four block assists.

“We were very specific during timeouts with what we wanted to do when we went back out on the floor,” Dagenais said. “Any time we were able to run a set play, or communicate what we wanted our players to do, they went out and executed and I give our team a lot of credit for clearing their minds during timeouts and applying the instructions we gave them.”

Senior defensive specialist Roxy Mendez tied a career-high with a team-best 15 digs while chipping in a service ace. Junior libero Jade Hayes assisted Mendez on the back row as she extended her double-digit digs streak to 18 after digging out 13 attacks. Freshman Taylor Gallart got in on the act defensively with a career-best three block assists.

The Knights get a full week off before heading back out on the road for a pair of conference matches against Rutgers at 7 p.m. next Friday followed by a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. against UConn.

The Knights (13-4, 4-0 The American) overwhelmed the young Bearcats (0-18, 0-5) with a strong defensive effort, holding Cincinnati to just a .086 attack percentage. It was the first time since Aug. 31 that UCF held an opponent under a .100 hit percentage over a full match.

“Tonight was as complete of a road match as we’ve played all year,” head coach Todd Dagenais said. “We played really well and controlled the match from beginning to end. We got everybody involved at a high level. For us to be able to hang with the likes of Louisville and the other top teams in this league, we have to be balanced and keep teams guessing. We can’t just depend on one or two hitters. Tonight we made a concerted effort to be as balanced as we can be. I thought Dana (Faught) executed our game plan perfectly.”

It was a all-around effort offensively for the Black and Gold as no player recorded double-digit kills, but five players registered at least six. Senior Angelica Crump led the way with nine kills, increasing her team lead to 232 on the season. The Atlanta native now has 1340 career kills, fifth-most in school history and the second highest total in the rally scoring era.

Thursday night was also an opportunity for freshman middle blocker Taylor Wickey to gain valuable experience after working hard all season in practice. Wickey got her number called for the first time this season in the third set and responded by clinching the sweep for the Knights with the match-ending block.

“Putting Taylor in a match has been something that’s been on our mind for two or three weeks,” Dagenais said. “We’ve been waiting for her to get enough experience and enough confidence in practice to be able to insert her in a key spot. In some rotations we really think we can gain an advantage with Wickey as a blocking specialist. You can’t teach 6’4” with good feet, good heart and good drive and she has all of those qualities.”

Junior libero Jade Hayes picked up 12 digs, extended her double-digit streak to 12-consecutive matches. Freshman Taylor Gallart showed off her two-way ability with six kills and eight digs while junior Loren Cory provided punch at the net with seven kills and four block assists. Junior Kaye-Alese Green shined in the middle with six kills and five block assists. In her first season as a full-time starter, Green leads the team with 70 combined blocks.

UCF gets the next two days off before returning to action on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. against conference-leading Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center. Sunday’s match will be televised live on ESPNU with Melissa Lee and Nell Fortner on the call.

The crowd of 1,669 broke the all-time attendance record of 1,603 that the Knights (10-4, 1-0 The American) set in the 2009 season, also against the Bulls (6-9, 0-1) in VolleyBowl II.

“First and foremost, we have to give a big thank you to the marketing and event promotions group that put this event together and allowed it to have such a great atmosphere,” head coach Todd Dagenais said. “I think that absolutely carried us to victory. A great atmosphere can be worth three to four points every set and you look and we won by three points all three sets.”

Three Knights recorded double-digit kills, led by senior Angelica Crump who smacked 15. Backing up Crump were juniors Loren Cory and DeLaina Sarden who registered 13 and 10 respectively. Junior setter Marie Reiterova had a huge three-set double-double, dishing out 42 assists (14.00 per set) and digging out 16 shots (5.33 per set). Junior libero Jade Hayes continued her excellent play on the back row, extending her streak of double-digit digs to nine matches.

“Tonight was pretty cool,” Hayes said. “I wasn’t expecting there to be that much intensity in the UCF-USF rivalry, but it was really great. I’m glad we got our first conference win in our first try to get off to a great start.”

VolleyBowl VI provided an interesting challenge for UCF as a team. The Knights formula for success in non-conference play was to attack at a high percentage and generally outscore opponents in run and gun, offense dominated contests. With both teams hitting under .200 for the match, the Black and Gold had to really give a grinding defensive effort to win which it did as the Knights topped USF in digs, 60-43.

“This was the kind of match that I want,” Dagenais said. “I’m a blocking and defense, grind it out, score when you can kind of coach. That’s how you win in conference play.”

UCF gets a full week off before returning to action next Friday at 7 p.m. against UConn at The Venue.

Her father, George Crump, played college football for East Carolina and after college, moved to the NFL to play professional football with the New England Patriots as a defensive end in the early 1980s. However, a knee injury shortened his time with the Patriots, causing his career to end after just two seasons.

Crump attributes much of her volleyball career to her father. Crump says her dad never let her stay still for long and because of that she was always involved with sports as a child. Crump says her father helped her become the athlete she is today. “He always pushed me. He was always around with my sports,” Crump said. “I always knew that it was in me.”

Crump started playing volleyball right before her father passed away. She said she was awful at volleyball when she first started, but he told her to stick with it and joked that maybe she could make it big someday. Now, she wishes that he could see her now.

The Atlanta native had an incredible sophomore campaign in 2011, earning AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and first-team all-region honors. This past season, the outside hitter led the Knights in kills.

“It’s just weird to know that I did make it somewhere. And sometimes it does hurt, because I would love for him to see what we actually talked about,” she said. Losing her father helped her look at life from a new perspective.

“I think it was sophomore year when I just woke up and thought life is short. Death is so unexpected and I feel like I learned to take advantage of opportunities. It made me realize to do things you love because you never know what going to happen and you need to take risks.”

Because Crump knows what her father went through as an athlete, she knows how quickly everything can change because of something like an injury. She says that has helped her realize that she wants to pursue something different after college.

“That’s one thing that kind of scares me about being an athlete. He really focused on just being an athlete and then his career didn’t go the way he wanted to and it really affected him.”

Since her father’s death, Crump says she is even closer to her family than ever before.

“Being an athlete, we do go through our ups and down and honestly I don’t even know what I would do without them. I tell my mom everything. Sometimes I don’t think I would stay sane if it wasn’t for her.”

This story appears in the March issue of Knights Insider magazine.

Head coach Todd Dagenais knows his team has done all they can do when it comes to making a run at a NCAA Tournament at-large bid. With a win over No. 1 USC in their pocket from earlier this year, Dagenais team will enjoy the moment and hope for at least one more match in 2011.

“At this point we have done all we can do in terms of trying to build a NCAA tournament resume, so now we just have to wait and see what happens with the rest of the country,” Dagenais said after the match. “We understand that we are probably on the outside part of the bubble, but we are really excited to be in that position of having the 20-win season and at least putting ourselves into consideration.

“This is a huge step for the program and huge step for this group of women,” Dagenais added. “It is an honor and tribute to all of the student athletes that we have had here during our tenure. So many of those players paved the road for us to have the opportunity to have such a great season. Now we get to sit back and enjoy what we’ve accomplished and hope to have the chance to accomplish more this year.”

Playing its third match in five days, the Knights showed no ill effects from the thousand-plus miles logged as it swept the Miners (19-14, 9-11) for the second time in 2011. It was also the six-consecutive win in the series as the UCF defense stifled the home team’s offensive output to just .109 for the night.

As has been the case most of the year, the first set belonged to the Knights as they burst out of the gates with a quick 5-0 run then followed that up with a 7-0 run to take a 14-4 lead. They would close out the set at 25-13 behind 12 kills and a .267 attack percentage. Both Angelica Crump (Atlanta, Ga.) and DeLaina Sarden (Lawrenceville, Ga.) totaled four kills apiece while the team swatted three total shots in the stanza.

After hoisting nine assists in the first set, senior setter Rachel Vukson (Oakville, Ontario) turned it on in the second, dishing out 16 helpers to lead the Knights to a 25-20 score. Crump was the recipient of many Vukson passes, delivering five kills to go along with her two block solos in the stanza. The Knights hit .250 overall in the frame while connecting on 17 kills.

The Miners made it interesting in the third as they held a 13-9 lead until Crump smacked down three-straight kills followed by back-to-back daggers by junior Evija Vilde (Riga, Latvia) and capped off the 6-0 run with a Vukson ace to take a 15-13 lead. The crucial streak sparked the Knights to go on to close out the set, 25-21, as Crump and Vilde combined for the last three kills to sweep the match.

On the evening, Crump spiked down a match-high 18 kills (.389) while Vilde joined her in double figures with 11 of her own. Sarden missed out on her 13th double-digit kills performance by one, but led the squad with a .421 hitting percentage. Vukson ended the contest with 41 assists for a 13.67 assist per set average to bring her season total to 1377, the eighth-best season total in school history.

UCF will learn its postseason fate on Sunday at 6 p.m. as the 64-team field for the NCAA Tournament is announced live on ESPNU.

UCF head coach Todd Dagenais couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to play USC, and is thrilled that his team was able to come through against one of the nation’s elite programs.

“We have so much respect for Southern California and their volleyball program,” Dagenais said about his former employer. “Here we are going into the match just trying to build something special so that one day we can put ourselves in the league such as a USC who has done it year in and year out. We still strive to be a program like them. Obviously it was a nice milestone for us. They are who we would like to be someday, so it was an honor to play them and we are thankful for that opportunity.”

The Knights bested the Trojans (1-2) in almost every statistical category in their first of two matches on Friday. UCF had the advantage in kills (53-31), hitting percentage (.351-.135), assists (48-27) and digs (50-35) that aided the Knights in their monumental win.

Junior Evijia Vilde (Riga, Latvia) and sophomore Angelica Crump (Atlanta, Ga.) led the Knights in kills with 15 apiece. Vilde connected on .429 of her attempts, and Crump totaled 16.5 points in the match.

Freshman Kayla Keller (San Antonio, Texas), starting for the first time in her career, made quite a splash against the Trojans. She totaled 12 kills with a .269 hitting percentage and chipped in with 13 digs for a double-double in her collegiate debut. Senior Rachel Vukson (Oakville, Ontario) nabbed her second-straight double-double for the Knights with 42 assists and 10 digs.

Although his team put on a solid all-around performance, Dagenais knows that this victory is a total-program effort.

“This win is a total program effort,” Dagenais said. “It’s not just for the people that are here right now, but for those who were here prior to this year. There are three years of teams who paid the price for us to have an opportunity like this, and those are the people we want to include in this.”

With the Knights having to face a tough Furman squad at 5 p.m., the Knights have little time to celebrate their win, but Dagenais knows that his team will come out focused.

“We have to turn around and get ready to play Furman who beat a Big 10 team last week,” Dagenais said. “We don’t get to enjoy this win like some other sports do, but that is the nature of the beast in this sport. We will have to find a way to meet that challenge.”