Flyers volleyball to play second day of invitational
By: Christian Harmon – Staff Writer
The Dayton Flyers volleyball team lost a five-set thriller to the Baylor Bears Friday night at the Frericks Center by a score of 3-2 (25-15, 22-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12). Baylor’s attack was led by Katie Staiger, who had 18 kills, while Andie Malloy posted a 14-kill, 19-dig performance. UD senior outside hitter Alaina Turner recorded 24 kills and sophomore setter Jane Emmenecker had 48 assists and 12 digs.
The entire match was closely contested, with the exception of the first set, which was mostly dominated by Dayton. After the score was tied up at 8-8, the Flyers went on to win 17 of the next 24 points to win the set. The Flyers fed off the energy and excitement of the 1,205 people packed inside the Frericks Center. The Red Scare student section was at its loudest when Turner finished off the first set with one of her three service aces.
However, the Bears refocused well and responded immediately by taking the next two sets. UD dug deep and battled to win an extremely close fourth set before falling just short in the deciding fifth set which was back and forth as well.
“I’m disappointed,” Dayton head coach Tim Horsmon said. “I don’t think we played our best. I don’t think we were the team that we’re striving to be in practice every day, and we just made some mental errors. Baylor outworked us and played with more passion and desire tonight to win, and ultimately that was the difference in the match.”
Horsmon also acknowledged the support at the Flyers’ season home opener.
“I think that’s another reason I’m probably disappointed [with the loss] because our kids work really hard and you get that crowd out there and we want to show them what we do every day,” he said. “We love having that crowd here. It’s a special place to play and we want them to come back. Part of them wanting to come back is seeing a great product and following a winning team, and I think the better we get the more people and the more interest there is.”
UD has two more games on Saturday as part of the Dayton Invitational at Frericks, first at 12:30 p.m. against Eastern Illinois and then 7 p.m. against Cleveland State. Looking to bounce back, Horsmon and the Flyers plan on making some adjustments.
“We’ve got to play with some passion, and we need to set the ball a little better than we did today and locate it,” Horsmon said. “We have some work to do but we’ll get there.”
ICYMI: The volleyball Dayton Invitational
By: Katie Obear – Staff Writer
The Dayton women’s volleyball team began its first invitational of the season Friday and will continue on today.
The Flyers will be hosting Baylor, Cleveland State and Eastern Illinois at Frericks Center. Each team will have a chance to play each other once.
The Flyers started off the invitational in a match against Baylor, Friday at 7 p.m., only the the second time the two teams have met. The last time was in 2010, when Dayton won 3-1.
The Flyers will play Eastern Illinois today at 12:30 p.m. UD has played EIU six times, holding a 5-1 record in the series. The last time that these two teams played was in 2005, when UD won 3-0.
For UD’s final match of the invitational, they will be playing Cleveland State on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Flyers and Vikings will be meeting for the 23rd time in the two programs’ history, and the Flyers hold a 16-6 advantage in the series. The two competed last season, with CSU taking the win 3-1.
Coming into the invitational, the Baylor Bears are 5-1, losing only to Colorado State in their first game of the season. Baylor had a perfect 3-0 run in the Hampton Inn North Baylor Invitational on Sept. 28-30.
Katie Staiger, who has 2.92 kills/set this year, leads the Bears along with head coach Ryan McGyure, in his first season coaching Baylor.
Cleveland State is currently 5-2, and went 2-1 in its own home invitational last weekend, beating Binghamton and Central Michigan, while losing to Cincinnati. Coach Chuck Voss is going into his 16th year as head coach of the Vikings program.
Eastern Illinois has the same record as Cleveland State, 5-2. The Panthers are coming off a 3-1 loss to DePaul.
Flyers senior outside hitter Alaina Turner currently has the most kills per set out of any of the players in the invitational at 4.09, followed by CSU’s Christina Toth at 3.55, EIU senior Chelsea Lee with 3.11 and Baylor redshirt sophomore Katie Staiger at 2.92.
“Well, you know, I think we are back to people gunning for us and ready to play us,” head coach Tim Horsmon said. “But reputation helps a lot, I think, when we are recruiting. It’s nice to be able to go in and talk about the last 10, 11, 12 years and the successes these kids have had and this program and community. We are resourced at a very high level. We have a great athletic director and department that really supports volleyball.”
“I’m super excited for our crowd, our fans coming back,” middle blocker Amber Erhahon said. “This atmosphere is crazy and I just can’t wait to play at home.”
Amber Erhahon received the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week award for volleyball due to her play in the Comfort Inn Saluki Invitational last weekend.
Admission is free for all the matches this weekend.