“I give this award to my teammates, because I would not be in this position without their support,” Sullivan said. “Playing well in conference play was my goal because those games are the important ones. I feel like it was great to be on base all the time and doing what I have to do to help us put runs on the board.”

Sullivan was also named to The American first team along with sophomore pitcher Shelby Turnier, while junior pitcher Mackenzie Audas, sophomore designated player Jessica Ujvari and freshman outfielder Linnea Goodman earned second team honors.

Sullivan’s player of the year honor was the first for the Knights’ program since Stephanie Best won three-straight Atlantic Sun awards from 2003-05. The Waynesboro, Miss., native compiled a .522 avg. during league play with 24 hits, 19 RBI, seven doubles and two homers.

“It just shows that when Farrah [Sullivan] puts her mind to something and is really focused, she is just unstoppable,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “She has been improving all season long. The coaches of the conference recognized that and saw what she has given, not only to our program, but the American Athletic Conference. It just says a lot about the type of person and player she is.”

One of UCF’s EVERDAY CHAMPIONS overcame a 2-for-42 stretch early in the season to finish with a .321 avg. with three homers and paced the team in RBI (31) and doubles (13). The Knights three-hole hitter has compiled a .418 on-base and .482 slugging pct.

Head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie along with assistant coaches Ruben Felix and Hillary Barrow used the long season to help the Knights young team progress into the regular season champion.

“Once the team bought into that we have to play as a team and fight for each other, we really saw a difference in the focus of our student-athletes,” Gillispie said. “We went from playing one-run games to posting seven runs on the board. That progress is what I am proud of. Our coaching staff did a great job of putting our players in a position to be successful.”

UCF, who was picked to finish fourth in the league’s preseason poll, has an upper class that contains just four juniors and not a single senior. The Knights registered a 39-15 overall record and 15-3 conference mark, which included series victories over each conference foe they played (Temple series was cancelled due to rain).

This was the first time that Coach Gillispie received an individual postseason accolade since being named the 1992 N4C Conference Coach of the Year guiding Joliet (Ill.) Junior College.

Coach Felix took an offense that was batting .208 following the first 10 games and steadily raised the team’s average during the campaign by mentoring the hitters to a current .275. Coach Barrow, who won the 2008 C-USA Tournament as a player for the Knights, adds another pair of accomplishments with the program with a regular season title and coaching honor.

Joining Sullivan on the first team was Turnier, who paced the league with a 1.16 ERA and tallied 53 strikeouts in 48.1 innings of work. The Palm Beach Gardens native had a 6-2 league mark, while going 18-5 overall, fanning 193 in 144.0 frames and compiled a 1.26 ERA, ranking 13th nationally.

Turnier along with Audas, who was named to the league’s second team, were a big reason for the Knights posting the eighth-best ERA in the nation at 1.59. The pair combined for 380 of the team 434 strikeouts, which is second in the nation behind conference-rival USF.

Audas went 7-1 in league action with 49 strikeouts in 58 frames. The Plant City native picked up series-clinching wins over USF and Louisville. She tallied a 17-10 overall mark with 187 punchouts in 174.0 innings.

One of the Knights most consistent players was Goodman, who compiled a .313 avg. with 51 hits. The Long Beach, Calif., native drove in 14 runs. She increased her batting avg. in conference games to .362 and came around to score nine times.

Solidifying the middle of the UCF lineup was Je. Ujvari. The Pensacola native blasted five home runs on the season including grand slams in the Knights wins over Boston College and Louisville. She recorded a .333 avg. and finished second on the team with 23 RBI.

2014 American Athletic Conference Softball Awards

Player of the Year

Pitcher of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Coaching Staff of the Year

All-Conference First Team

All-Conference Second Team

“We could not be happier to have earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “We felt like our rĂ©sumĂ© was strong and it is so great to see C-USA being recognized as a strong Division I conference by having four teams make the tournament.”

The host Gators (46-11) and Florida Gulf Coast (37-22) will also participate in the four-team regional which follows a double-elimination format. Florida and FGCU will square off at 6 p.m. on Friday.

The at-large selection to the tournament is the second for the Black and Gold in its 11-year history, while it will be the fourth time in four total appearances in the NCAA Tournament that the Knights will be playing at Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium.

The last time UCF made an appearance was in 2010, when it earned the first at-large selection in school history. The Knights went 1-2 during the 2010 regional, defeating FIU in the opening game before losing to Florida and FIU on day two.

Overall when participating in the NCAA Tournament, the Black and Gold holds a 5-6 record and has faced Florida five times during the stretch.

Of the 64 teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2012, the Knights faced 12 teams throughout the season, including No. 5 seed Florida, No. 12 seed UCLA, No. 16 seed Washington, Iona, Bethune-Cookman, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, San Diego State, Oregon State and C-USA foes Tulsa, Houston and UAB. When facing off with those teams, UCF posted 10 wins.

The regional winners will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 24-27 at eight campus sites.

Ticket information for the Gainesville Regional will be announced when they become available.

The Knights (39-13) fed off the Plant City native as she struck out 11 batters en route to her 21st win of the year. Audas was masterful as she dealt 110 pitches with 81 for strikes while issuing just two walks.

Only three Wildcats (26-26) reached base all game and no runners got beyond second. Audas retired the final 13 hitters of the game and struck out at least one batter in all seven innings. It was the 10th time this season that Audas has racked up double-digit strikeouts in a start.

The performance was the first no hitter thrown by the Knights’ pitching staff this year and the first for the program since Allison Kime on March 25, 2008.

Senior Natalie Land led the game off with a long home run to right-center to give the Audas all the cushion she would need. The long ball was Land’s seventh of the season and fourth to open a game. Land went 3-for-4 with three runs and two stolen bases to increase her batting average to a season-best .341. Land is on a five-game hitting streak and has recorded at least two hits in each of those five games.

The Knights plated insurance runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings. In the second, freshman Kahley hit an infield single and used her speed to force an errant throw into right field that allowed Land to score from second unearned. In the fourth, another Wildcats error, this time off the bat of senior Vanessa Perez, allowed Land to again score unearned to put the Knights up 3-0. Junior Alena Murgatroyd completed the Black and Gold’s scoring with an RBI single to left in the fifth.

The Knights will return to action for their last regular season series of the year on Saturday as they travel to Marshall for a 1 p.m. doubleheader. The series will conclude on Sunday at noon.

And minutes after the calm and cool standout pitcher authored a dazzling two-hit, 11-strikeout shutout in UCF’s historic 2-0 defeat of the No. 3 Gators, Audas uttered what might go down as the understatement of the season.

“This is kind of a big deal,” said Audas, who has evolved into arguably the best freshman pitcher in the country.

Freshman , UCF’s hottest hitter the past three weeks, doubled in two runs in the first inning and Audas did the rest as UCF (30-10) beat Florida (34-5) for the first time ever in Orlando. The Knights’ 10th straight victory this season was their third in school history against the Gators and their first since May 18, 2008, in the NCAA Tournament.

A crowd of 747 fans – the second-largest in school history – packed the UCF Softball Complex and was loud from the first pitch. The grounds crew also rolled up two outfield wind screens, allowing a couple hundred more fans to watch the game and add to the electric atmosphere.

“The crowd was amazing. It felt like a football game,” Sullivan said. “Words can’t describe the feeling of this. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

After blanking the third-ranked Gators, the surging Knights have bettered their chances of cracking the top 25 and getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.

“It’s our first home win against Florida, and that’s big,” UCF head coach said. “Mac (Audas) had a great game, catcher Hayley (Barrow) did a great job calling the game, and we made the plays and got the hits that we needed. It was a one-hit difference in the game, but thankfully it was our turn after 10 years of playing them here.”

The unquestioned star of the night was Audas, the 5-foot-5 right-hander from Plant City who dominated a Florida program that never recruited her. Audas (16-5), who entered the game with the lowest ERA in the country for a freshman, tossed her eighth shutout of the season. Her 11-strikeout performance was the sixth time that she had a double-digit strikeout game.

“She’s had some ups and downs and we’ve talked about how it has to be one pitch at a time and she had to focus on each batter as a separate situation and go hard at them,” Luers-Gillispie said. “I told her that she will always have to tools to strike anybody out. She worked hard on focusing on one pitch at a time. And she didn’t have those ups and downs and stayed very steady.”

A true sign of Audas’ razor-sharp focus on Wednesday night was her ability to summon big pitches in key situations. Six Florida batters reached a full count against Audas, but she struck out three of them and none got hits. The two hits in the game were a line drive to center in the third inning and a bunt single in the sixth.

“In the first inning, it’s Florida and they’re ranked, and I was nervous,” Audas admitted. “I faced UCLA and Washington early in the year, but this was Florida. I was pretty nervous early, but I settled down. I knew I couldn’t give a team like this free bases. So I just kept trying to go right at them all night.”

UCF finished with just three hits against Florida’s Hannah Rogers (20-3), but the biggest one of the night came in the first inning in a clutch situation. Sullivan doubled down the left-field line to score two runners and put the Knights up 2-0. Senior shortstop started the rally by beating out an infield hit and stealing second. Then, after walked, Sullivan stroked a fastball down the line that got all the way to the wall.

The clutch double was just the latest big hit for Sullivan, who almost single-handedly destroyed UTEP in a three-game sweep last weekend in West Texas. Sullivan had three home runs, two doubles and nine RBI last Friday in a double-header sweep for the Knights.

Wednesday night’s double will go down as one of the most important hits in school history.

“It was an inside pitch, and I had two strikes on me. I feel like that relaxed me. I just saw the ball and hit it,” said Sullivan, a Waynesboro, Miss., native who leads the team in home runs (five), doubles (nine) and RBI (29). “I knew if we got a head start on them that Mackenzie would take care of them. I knew if we got some runs she would come through and take care of business.”

 Friday, Game One – UCF 2, Ohio State 1

Freshman Mackenzie Audas (Plant City, Fla.) earned her first-career win in her first collegiate game after only allowing one earned run on six hits in seven innings to help the Knights earn a 2-1 victory over Ohio State (0-1) in their opening game of the Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational.

The young hurler was dominant from the onset as she struck out the first batter she faced and five of the first eight she retired. Audas tallied nine strikeouts total and didn’t issue a single walk in the complete game performance as she improved to 1-0 on the season.

Senior Allie Jest (Stone Mountain, Ga.) provided the game-winning RBI in the fifth inning when she dropped a one out opposite-field single into left field. This base hit scored fellow senior Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.) who was on third base after ripping a triple deep into the right-center field gap.

The Buckeyes were able to get the tying run into scoring position in the bottom of the seventh after a single and a stolen base, but Audas saved her best for last and struck out Buckeyes left fielder Megan Coletta to end the game.

Friday, Game Two – UCF 9, Florida A&M 1 (5 innings)

UCF used aggressive base running and timely hitting to defeat Florida A&M 9-1 in five rain-soaked innings in the second game of Friday’s double header at Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational. The win gave the Knights their first 2-0 start since the 2004 season.

The Knights got five stolen bases from five different players and constantly put the Rattlers’ defense under pressure by taking extra bases at every opportunity. UCF is a perfect 7-7 in stolen base attempts through two games this season.

The black and gold jumped on FAMU early as Brewer roped a double to left field, advanced to third on senior Natalie Land’s (Mayo, Fla.) infield single, and scored on Menendez’s fielder’s choice to first base. Freshman Farrah Sullivan (Waynesboro, Miss.) then knocked in Land from second with an RBI single up the middle for her first hit of the season. Senior Vanessa Perez (San Diego, Calif.) finished the first inning scoring with a sacrifice fly to stake the Knights to a 3-0 first inning lead.

Senior transfer Ali Schmidt (Cordova, Md.), making her first Division I collegiate start, picked up her first career win after pitching five innings and allowing just three hits and one unearned run. Schmidt attacked hitters early and cruised through the first three innings before slightly struggling with wet conditions that made gripping the ball difficult. Schmidt allowed five base runners in the final two innings, but managed to escape without allowing any additional runs.

With rain bearing down on the field and a steady drizzle ready to turn into a downpour, the Knights quickly finished off the mercy rule victory in the fifth inning as Swan blasted a double into the right-centerfield gap to score Perez from second.

Saturday, Game One – UCF 10, Bethune-Cookman 4

UCF slugged out 11 hits and hit three home runs as the bats surged against Bethune-Cookman. Freshman Farrah Sullivan (Waynesboro, Miss.) smashed a three-run home run in the top of the first inning and finished the game 3-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Sullivan and the rest of the Knights carried the team to a dominant 10-4 victory over Bethune-Cookman (0-3) in their third game of the Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational.

Sullivan had a tremendous weekend for the Knights as the young slugger hit .417 (5-12) and knocked in a team-leading six runs for the Knights in the four games. Sullivan is also leading the black and gold in slugging percentage as well as total bases. Perhaps most surprising, a recruited first baseman, Sullivan also made several strong defensive plays at third base, leading the Knights with nine infield assists in the weekend slate.

Junior transfer Alex Hartshorn (Tampa, Fla.) made her first start of the season and earned her first Division I victory after allowing three earned runs on four hits in four innings. Hartshorn kept the Wildcats limited on the bases by not allowing a single walk. Senior Ali Schmidt (Cordova, Md.) earned her first career save after pitching three scoreless innings in relief.

Saturday, Game Two – UCF 6, Chattanooga 2

Freshman standout Mackenzie Audas (Plant City, Fla.) was once again dominant in her second career start as the UCF defeated Chattanooga 6-2 in their fourth and final game of Dot Richardson’s National Collegiate Softball Invitational. The win gave the Knights their second best start in school history, topped only by their 5-0 start in 2004.

Audas pitched her second complete game of the weekend and kept the Mocs both off balance and overmatched with her mix of risers and changeups. Audas struck out 10 batters in seven innings and did not allow a walk for the second consecutive game. The righty has an incredible 19-0 strikeout to walk ratio in her two starts for the Knights.

The Black and Gold will play 30 home games at the UCF Softball Complex, with season tickets for the 2012 season costing only $40. The Knights’ first home game is slated for Feb. 24 against Seton Hall. Tickets are available for purchase online at UCFAthletics.com and Ticketmaster.com, or by calling the UCF Athletics Ticket Office at (407) UCF-1000.

“This is great,” Rojas said after the game. “It’s awesome for us to come out here and win our first game. It was a close game but it was a great game. That means a lot to the team, coaches and everyone. It’s a big deal for us to come out here and beat them like we did today.”

The Black and Gold will make its fourth appearance in a C-USA semifinal contest in the last five years, advancing to the championship game in both 2008 and 2010.

Rojas improved her record to 10-13 on the season with her gem in the circle against the Blazers. She allowed only one run on three hits with two walks and a strikeout in her 15th complete-game outing of 2011.

“Diana had a great, great showing out there,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “She stayed calm, poised and did very well getting the big outs when she needed them. She worked all year long on trying to get ahead of hitters and trying to work the whole plate and she did exactly that. Her curveball was working great and she took advantage of that when she could. She kept them off balance and threw some key changeups that kept UAB’s tempo off with the bats. I was very proud of the way she performed.”

Offensively, the Black and Gold scattered seven hits off UAB’s pitching duo of Alisha Smith and Leigh Streetman. Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.) paced the squad with a 2-for-2 performance at the plate, while Allie Jest (Stone Mountain, Ga.), Natalie Land (Mayo, Fla.), Abby McClain (Waterloo, Iowa), Tiffany Lane (Moreno Valley, Calif.) and Patrice Fee (Cocoa, Fla.) accounted for UCF’s additional five hits.

McClain and Lane each scored a run for the visiting Black and Gold, and Kellie Todd (Ocala, Fla.) posted the only RBI for UCF in the fourth inning.

Every run of the opening-round contest was scored in the fourth inning, with the Knights scoring two in the top of the frame and the Blazers putting up one in the bottom of the inning. UCF effectively played the small-ball game to produce runs in that inning, bunting twice to load the bases in the frame and knock Smith out of the contest.

The Black and Gold loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth inning on back-to-back singles from McClain and Lane and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Menendez to open the frame. Todd hit a RBI ground out to second base to bring in UCF’s first run of the contest, before a catcher’s interference call at the plate once again loaded the bases for the Knights. Fee put the ball in play and a fielding error by UAB’s third baseman allowed Lane to touch home safely and gave UCF a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth frame.

UAB cut the Knights’ lead to one run in the home half of the inning on a leadoff walk and a single down the left field line by Kristen McGrath, but Rojas and the Knights were able to hold the Blazers scoreless for the next three innings to advance to the semifinal round of the C-USA Championship for the fourth time in the last five years.

No. 2 Tulsa will stand in the way of No. 6 UCF making a return trip to the C-USA Championship Game. The Golden Hurricane defeated No. 7 Marshall, 10-0, in five innings earlier in the day to advance to the semifinal contest vs. the Knights. Tulsa enters the contest with a 42-12 overall record and holds an 8-11 advantage in the all-time series vs. the Black and Gold after sweeping the Knights at Donna J. Hardesty Softball Complex during the regular season.

“Tulsa is just a real tough team,” Luers-Gillispie said. “Pitching is the key for them. You can’t make mistakes against a team like Tulsa or they’ll make you pay. We need to keep it within one run and we’ll have a chance tomorrow. I don’t know if they will throw [Aimee] Creger again but my guess is they will stick with her until she wears down. We have to take care of our own business. We have to slow the game down a little bit and play the small game. If we do those things we have a chance and we should be fine.”

“This was a perfect way to earn my 600th win,” Luers-Gillispie said. “I feel like we are finally playing together and playing with confidence. Even with our backs against the wall, we found ways to win and our veterans stepped up when we really needed them to.”

The win vs. the Rattlers (9-8) moved Luers-Gillispie’s record to 600-451-3 in her 18th season as a head coach, while also improving her UCF record to 348-247-1 in her 10th season with the Knights.

Todd’s two RBI paced the Knights’ offense, while senior Abby McClain (Waterloo, Iowa) tallied a RBI triple in the fourth inning. Sophomore Marissa Menendez (Tampa, Fla.) also had a hit, scored a run and posted the game-winning RBI in the sixth.

Junior Allie Jest (Stone Mountain, Ga.) extended her hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the third inning. Senior Tawny Swan (Gilbert, Ariz.) recorded a hit and scored a pair of runs in the victory, and junior Natalie Land (Mayo, Fla.) tacked on a hit and one run scored.

In the circle, junior Lacy Dinney (Binbrook, Ont.) picked up her second win of the evening to move her record to 4-3 on the year. The hurler allowed only one run on three hits, while striking out six, in a complete-game outing.

The Black and Gold trailed early in the game after the Rattlers put a run across in the top of the first inning, but Dinney was able to regroup and held the visiting squad scoreless for the remainder of the contest.

UCF finally got on the board in the fourth inning and tied the game when Swan led off the frame with a double to left field and came around to score on McClain’s RBI triple to left centerfield.

The Knights scored four runs and took their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning. A single by Land was sandwiched between a pair of walks allowed to Swan and McClain to load the bases with no outs, before Menendez brought the first run in with a single to centerfield. Two more runs would come around on a two-RBI single to left field by Todd to give the Black and Gold a 5-1 advantage and seal the victory.

UCF returns to action Tuesday when it hosts both Ball State and North Carolina in a doubleheader at the UCF Softball Complex. The first contest will begin at 4:30 p.m., while the nightcap is slated to get underway at 7 p.m.

With the victory the Knights advance to the Regional Semifinal Saturday at 1 p.m. against No. 4-overall seed Florida. The winner of that contest will advance to the Regional final Sunday at 1 p.m.

“I thought we did a great job of taking control of the game early today,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “We were really heads up in our base running and took advantage of balls in the dirt and change ups. That put us in the position to score when we needed to.”

Barrow put together one of the best performances of her career in the contest against the Golden Panthers, going 2-for-3 with a home run, one run scored, a walk, a stolen base and matched her career-best with five RBI. Barrow also posted five RBI just a mere two weeks ago on the road at UTEP on May 8, while hitting the only other grand slam of her career on March 25 at home against Cornell.

Also adding to the Knights’ five-hit total in the contest were Tiffany Lane (Moreno Valley, Calif.), Ashleigh Cole (Pace, Fla.) and Vanessa Perez (San Diego, Calif.), with each eventually scoring in the inning of which they posted the hits.

Senior Mary Helen Tyler (Marianna, Fla.) scored twice for the Black and Gold, while adding a sacrifice bunt and a walk, and Natalie Land (Mayo, Fla.) tallied the Knights’ only other RBI besides Barrow’s five. Morgan Bullard (Columbia, S.C.) also swiped a pair of bases in the contest.

Besides producing at the plate, Cole also shined in the circle for UCF, allowing only one run on five hits while striking out three in a complete-game outing. The win over FIU improved Cole’s record to 24-13 on the season and dropped her overall ERA to 1.46.

“Ashleigh did a great job of keeping FIU off balance, because they are such an aggressive hitting team,” Luers-Gillispie said. “She also was very successful in working in her change up and hitting her marks on the mound. I think that was a big key to us getting the win.”

The game started off on a high note for the Knights as Lane opened their half of the first inning with a single up the middle of the infield, advanced to second on an illegal pitch delivered by Kasey Barrett and moved to third on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Land. Barrow stepped to the plate with only one out and stroked a single up the middle to bring Lane in to score and give UCF an early, 1-0, lead.

For the second-straight inning, UCF had its leadoff batter get on base when Cole posted a single to left field to open the second frame. Tyler laid down the sacrifice bunt, but FIU elected to go to second on the play and pinch runner Ashley Schmitt (Tampa, Fla.) slid in safely to put two runners on with no outs. Barrett then plunked Perez with a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. The hurler was able to muster two outs with a pair of strikeouts, but it was the keen eye of Land that brought another run across for UCF as she drew a bases-loaded RBI walk to give UCF a 2-0 lead. The Black and Gold then extended its lead to six runs when Barrow crushed a home run over the left field fence to tally her second grand slam of her career and knock Barrett out of the contest.

UCF’s bats cooled slightly after the second inning, as the squad continued to put runners on base, but just could not get a timely hit to extent its lead. The Knights were held scoreless through three full innings, but had runners on in all but one.

The Golden Panthers managed to plate a single run in the top of the sixth inning following a single by Ashley McClain and a RBI double off the bat of Brie Rojas, but the Knights took the run back in the bottom of the frame on a bases-loaded wild pitch that brought Tyler in to score. The right fielder started off the inning with a lead-off walk and Perez moved her to second with a single to centerfield. An error by FIU’s third baseman loaded the bases, before the wild pitch gave UCF the 7-1 advantage.

That score would be all the Black and Gold needed to take the opening round win from the Golden Panthers as Cole and the defense shut FIU down in the top of the seventh to seal the victory.

The regional winners will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 28-29 at eight campus sites.

“In eighteen years of coaching, this is the first time I have had a team earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said. “It is so great to see C-USA being recognized as a strong Division I conference by having three teams make the tournament.”

The host Gators (43-8) and Bethune-Cookman (32-22) will also participate in the four-team regional which follows a double-elimination format.

The at-large selection to the tournament is the first for the Black and Gold in its nine-year history, while it will be the third time in three appearances in the NCAA Tournament that the Knights will be playing at Katie Seashole Pressley Softball Stadium.

The last time UCF made an appearance was in 2008, when it won the C-USA Championship title game against then No. 9 Houston in Houston, Texas. During their impressive run at the Gainesville Regional that year, the Knights posted a 3-2 record, defeating USF, Georgia Tech and then-No. 1 Florida, before falling to the Gators in the Regional final to end their record-breaking season.

UCF had five Knights named to the all-tournament team at the conclusion of the event, with Ashleigh Cole (Pace, Fla.), Hillary Barrow (Miami, Fla.), Abby McClain (Waterloo, Iowa), Natalie Land (Mayo, Fla.) and Vanessa Perez (San Diego, Calif.) all earning spots on the squad.

The contest, which was aired nationally on CBS College Sports network, was delayed 4.5 hours due to heavy rain in the Houston area. But, after less than two hours, the Black and Gold walked away from the 2010 league tournament as the runner-up. UCF will now await word from the NCAA Selection Committee on whether its season will continue with an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, with the selection show slated for 10 p.m. Sunday on ESPN U.

“It has been a battle every conference game this year,” Luers-Gillispie said. “We are the fifth best conference in the country as far as scheduling and I think this conference has put itself in a position to put four teams in the tourney this year and I hope that the committee sees that. All we can do now is just sit back and wait for the committee to decide our fate.”