Katie Tatum says it was like love at first sight.

The junior volleyball standout from Roxboro, N.C. admitted she didn't know much about the University of Central Florida, but from the moment she first stepped foot on campus last June she knew it would be the place for her.

A few months later, the 6-foot-2 outside hitter pledged her verbal commitment to Coach Todd Dagenais' program and became the Knights' first commitment in the Class of 2010.

Tatum, who attends Person High School, said it all began last summer when she was in Orlando to compete in an AAU tournament at Disney World.

"My mom was coaching in the tournament, so the coaches could talk to her," said Tatum, who plays for NC Elite. "Michelle (Chatman), the assistant coach, talked to my mom and said UCF was interested in me and my other teammates. She wanted us to get up to their school. We had some free time during the tournament so we went out there and I instantly fell in love with it."

From that point on, UCF made Tatum a recruiting priority and she was offered a scholarship. She returned to campus in early October for another visit, caught a match and also saw more of the campus. That's when she made the decision to commit.

"We flew in the morning of the ECU game and we went to breakfast with the team," Tatum said. "We watched them go through their whole routine and what they do. We saw the game and after the game we went to the locker room and Coach Todd talked to all of them.

"After that, we went to lunch and I hung out with Kristin Fisher and her roommates. They were amazing. I love them. After that, I just chilled with the girls at the dorm. The next morning I went to classes with them just to get the whole feel. I met with an academics advisor and I toured the whole campus with Michelle and Fish, then we had lunch. After lunch, I talked to Coach Todd and I finally committed."

Tatum explained how the commitment happened.

"They knew they were my top choice and Coach Todd was like, 'I don't want to pressure you or anything,'" Tatum said. "I said, 'I don't know how to say it, but I'm coming here.' He was just smiling the whole time. He was like, 'Really? Are you serious?' Then he called Michelle in and they all gave me hugs. It was great."

Dagenais took over the UCF program prior to this season after a successful three-year stint at USC where he was the assistant head coach.

"It's kind of funny," Tatum said. "In eighth grade Todd sent me a letter from USC. I don't think he knows that, but he did. It's kind of cool. He's at UCF and still found me. Now it seems like the right place."

UCF's location was also a plus.

"I always wanted to go to California to play volleyball so I could get the best level of experience," Tatum said. "It was nice because Todd was coaching in California and now he's in Florida, which is closer to home. I'm going to get the same experience, plus it's still warm and sunny because I am a climate controlled girl. Weather is very important to me."

She also liked what UCF's campus had to offer. The schools features brand new facilities across the board as well as new high-rise condo style dorms where the student-athletes live.

"The facilities were amazing," Tatum said. "I really like that. I'm an athlete, so I like how UCF is going to treat their athletes nice. I really love their new gym. They were talking about that when went down there the first time, so I hadn't seen it yet, but when we were down there (in October) it was amazing. Everything was so nice down there."

Tatum says she just felt an overall connection with the coaches and players at UCF.

"All the coaches are really nice," she said. "When I talked to the girls, when the coaches weren't around, they were telling me that they were just amazing. They all said they couldn't dream of going anywhere else because they were amazing. That gave me a good feeling. The team seemed really cool too. Just hanging out with them, I felt like I was getting along."

This wasn't Tatum's first exposure to volleyball recruiting. Her sister, Meagan Tatum, is a freshman at Cornell.

"It was nice because when she started going on unofficial visits I was in eighth grade so I got to see how everything works and take in everything she did," Tatum said. "That really helped me when I started going on visits myself."

Tatum committed to the Knights over several ACC schools.

"I went to Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Clemson, College of Charleston, Wake Forest, Duke and NC State, there were a lot of them, but nothing seemed as nice or could compare to UCF," she said.

Growing up, Tatum says it was her sister, with a little help from her aunt, who first got her interested in the sport.

"When my sister was in eighth grade, she talked to my aunt, who used to be a volleyball coach," Tatum said. "She asked her, 'Will you teach me the game?' So my aunt took me and my sister out to a beach court and tried to teach us the basics. From there, we started playing. At the time, she was in eighth grade and i was in sixth."

She hasn't looked back since. Tatum became a star at the middle school level and later helped Person High School to state titles during her freshman and sophomore years. This past season she was named the PAC-6 Conference Player of the Year. She's also traveled across the country with club teams, which is when she realized she might have a chance to earn a college scholarship.

"I saw other girls getting recruited for colleges and I thought it would be cool if I didn't have to pay for college and play the sport I love," Tatum said. "From there on, I just worked really hard to get where I am now and where I wanted to be."