After winning the Flyer Invitational last weekend, the University of Dayton volleyball team looks to keep their success going this weekend at the Comcast Lady Vol Classic in Tennessee.

The Flyers are slated to play two matches on Friday and one on Sunday in Knoxville. They will be playing No. 17 Illinois in their opener followed by Gardner-Webb and Tennessee.

All three teams will be formidable opponents but being in the top 25, Illinois stands out most on the schedule. In their last meeting, the Flyers beat Illinois in last year's Flyer Invitational to win the tournament, so the Illini will be seeking revenge in Knoxville. The players know that the Fighting Illini will be fired up on Friday, but that is not going to change their approach.

"When you have high ranked teams you want to go after them a little harder, but this year we're working on coming at every team with the same mindset and intensity," sophomore middle blocker Lindsay Fletemier said.

The volleyball team is coming off of their best season in history in which they posted a 33-2 record in 2007.

"We're trying to be just as successful as last year," Fletemier said. "We have some new players in here and we're just working hard trying to get the job done."

The biggest change from last year is at the head coach position where Kelly Sheffield has taken over for Tim Horsmon. Horsmon was with the Flyers for the last five seasons. Sheffield arrives at UD after seven seasons at Albany in which he led the Great Danes to three NCAA Tournament appearances. Sheffield seems to have had little trouble making the transition.

"When you get the support that we've had here from the administration, staff, community, fans and students, the transition is pretty easy," Sheffield said. "The amount of support that this program has here is incredible and it certainly makes it a little bit easier on what we're trying to do and it makes it really exciting."

Coming off three matches in the Flyer Invitational and traveling on Thursday to play three different teams in the Lady Vol Classic, it seems difficult to be well-prepared. Coach Sheffield emphasized staying focused on one game at a time.

"We have to be able to focus on just getting better and who's in front of us next. If we get ahead of ourselves it is going to get tough for us," Sheffield said.

The team has gotten off to a good start this season in the win-loss column. Sheffield stressed that while winning is certainly important, improving as a team is what he really cares about. The team knows that improving game by game is the only way to achieve their long-term goals of another Atlantic 10 Championship and potentially a run in the NCAA Tournament.

"We put a challenging schedule out in front of us for a reason," Sheffield said. "We want to be challenged. We want to be a team that improves more throughout the course of the year than anybody else."

The Flyers will pursue their second consecutive tournament title beginning at noon on Friday against Illinois. They face Gardner-Webb at 5 p.m. later that day and wrap the weekend up with host school Tennessee at 2 p.m. on Sunday.