Junior outside hitter Abbie Jackson’s 20 kills helped power UH volleyball past UCF on Friday night. | Courtesy of UH athletics
UH volleyball took down UCF in five sets on Friday night in Orlando, Florida, for the Cougars’ first win over the Golden Knights since 2017.
Houston jumped ahead 6-3 to begin the first set but UCF quickly rallied back to tie the set at seven.
The Knights continued their run to lead of 15-10 highlighted by a series of successful kills and mistakes by the Cougars. UCF rode its momentum to a 25-18 first set victory.
In set two, both teams kept each other on their toes as the score remained close throughout the entire set.
UCF led 18-15 before UH went on a run of its own. A service ace by sophomore setter Annie Cooke tied it 23 followed an attack error by UCF to put Houston 24-23 inching the Cougars closer to a set two win. A kill by junior outside hitter Abbie Jackson helped UH take a 25-23 set two victory.
Set three started began with UH taking a 7-5 lead.
The Cougars’ expanded their lead to 22-14.
UCF rallied back, scoring six consecutive points to close the gap but the Cougars held off the Knights comeback efforts. A kill by senior outside hitter Kortlyn Henderson and two back-to-back kills by Jackson made secured a 25-20 third set victory for UH.
Looking to force a fifth set, UCF held a narrow 17-15 midway through the fourth set. UH made it close, trading points with the UCF but the Knights were ultimately able to win the set 25-22.
The Cougars found themselves in a hole in the fifth set as the Knights scored four consecutive points to jump ahead 11-9.
But UH remained unfazed, taking six of the next seven points capped off by a kill from Jackson to win the set 15-12 and take the match 3-2.
With the win, UH improved to 14-3 on the season and 4-1 in American Athletic Conference play.
