– To nominate athletic performances for inclusion each Wednesday to the Top-5 list of Orlando Sports Central Standouts, send over an email to JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com –

1.) Zack Greinke – Kansas City Royals – The 2002 Apopka High School grad and first round draft pick that year by the Kansas City Royals was named the American League Cy Young award winner last week. Although the Royals finished just 65-97, Greinke went 16-8 with 242 strikeouts and a Major League Baseball-best 2.16 ERA to snag 25 of 28 first-place votes.

2.) Kevin Elliot and Alvis Graham – Florida A&M Rattlers – The former Colonial High School teammates made major contributions on Saturday for FAMU at the 30^th Annual Florida Classic to help lead the Rattlers to a 42-6 win over Bethune-Cookman. Elliot entered the game leading the team in receiving with 42 catches for 545 yards and 6 touchdowns. He scored a touchdown and recovered a fumble on Saturday while Graham led FAMU with six tackles. Graham entered the game with a team-high 62 tackles, 5.5 for a loss and one sack.

3.) Patrick Mputu – Winter Park Wildcats – Not only did the standout running back at Winter Park score the game-winning touchdown with 39 seconds remaining in the 50-47 opening round playoff win over Lake Brantley, but Mputu scored three times in the final quarter of the game. He finished the night with 199 yards in 26 carries, good for 7.7 yards per carry, after ending the regular season third in the area with 1,302 yards on the year.

Marshay White

4.) Marshay White – UCF Knights – The junior guard for the UCF women’s basketball team scored a career-high 23 points in the 80-46 win over Bethune-Cookman in the 2009-10 home opener for the Knights. The win kept alive a nine-game home win streak for the team at UCF Arena. White made four three-pointers and shot 9-of-17 while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out six assists in the win.

5.) Erin Campbell – UCF Knights – Despite starring for a volleyball squad that went just 12-18 overall and 3-13 in Conference USA, Campbell ended her career at UCF with an all-C-USA Second Team selection. The nod is just the second postseason honor for the program as Stephanie Serna also received the distinction a year ago. Campbell entered the season finale against USF (which UCF won in five sets) with 383 kills and ranked in the all-time top-10 lists for six different statistical career categories.

More ––

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 11/18/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 11/11/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 11/4/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 10/28/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 10/21/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 10/14/09

This weekend Campbell and the Knights return to The Venue at UCF with an 8-8 overall mark (0-3 in C-USA) for a Friday night match against UAB (8-9, 2-1) at 7 p.m. and a Sunday afternoon meeting with Memphis (2-14, 0-3) at 12 p.m.

Erin Campbell

Against East Carolina, Campbell etched her name in the record book at UCF by turning in her sixth double-double of the year as she tallied 18 kills and 20 digs in the loss from the outside hitter position. Campbell, who along with Lauren Williams is one of two returning starters from last year, has led the Knights throughout the season with a 3.50 kills-per-set average thanks to 217 kills though 16 matches.

Born in Orlando, Campbell grew up in Kansas City, MO before becoming a Knight. She has a career high of 26 digs in one game (against Montana State on Sept. 8, 2007) and has had 22 kills in a game twice (most recently against Marshall on Oct. 3, 2008). She is now one of seven UCF players to ever reach 1,000 kills and one of eight players to manage 1,000 digs.

Topping those career lists is Renata Menchikova (No. 1 with 2,151 kills and No. 3 with 1,192 digs between 1995-97) and Miriam Metzcus (No. 1 with 1,644 digs and No. 3 with 1,811 kills between 1991-94). Also finishing her career with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs was Tyra Harper (1,932 kills is No. 2 all-time and 1,097 digs is No. 6 all-time) between 1994-97.

Including the two matches taking place this weekend there are eight more home contests for the Knights before the start of the C-USA Championship at Rice, Nov. 20-22. The remainder of the regular season schedule features Rice (Oct. 16), Houston (Oct. 18), East Carolina (Oct. 23), Marshall (Oct. 24), Tulsa (Nov. 6) and SMU (Nov. 8).

In 2008 the Knights finished their first season under new head coach Todd Dagenais with a 15-17 overall mark, the best showing for the program since going 23-7 as a member of the Atlantic Sun in 2003. UCF had not reached double-figure wins since.

The recognition comes on the heels of being named to the event’s all-tournament team. The first weekly conference award for Youngblood made her just the third Lady Knight volleyball player to be honored by C-USA.

What swayed the voters were Youngblood’s combined numbers of 151 assists, 23 digs and six blocks for the championship team. UCF earned the title by getting past Jacksonville, North Florida, Florida Atlantic and DePaul in the finals.

Youngblood has been a steady contributor for the Knights ever since dishing out 60 assists in one game against Troy and leading the Knights with 699 helpers as a freshman in 2006. Her 269 assists as a sophomore and 299 as a junior each ranked second-best on the team over the past two seasons.

With the Lady Knights now eight games into the season (6-2 overall) Youngblood has already amassed 239 assists thus far. Youngblood’s 1,506 career assists inches her closer to Elyse Schneider (1993-96) at No. 5 on the school’s all-time career list. Emily Queisser (1992-95) still holds the record with 5,923 to her credit.

The Knights return home on Tuesday, Sept. 15 against USF for a rivalry meeting at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on tape delay on Bright House Sports Network (channel 47) at 8 p.m.

More UCF Volleyball coverage:

Andrew Kennedy covers Radisson-UCF Invitational at Central Florida Future

Game-by-game coverage of the event at Volleyball Voices

Recap, video and photos from the tournament at UCF Sports