Flyers, Billikens Open Up A-10 Volleyball Season With Championship Rematch
By: Caroline Flahive – Staff Writer
After going 8-6 in non-conference play, the Flyers open Atlantic 10 play Friday against Saint Louis. The Dayton volleyball squad is looking for their fourth straight A-10 Championship.
“We’re excited to kick things off with conference play this weekend and see what we can do,” said junior outside hitter Lauren Bruns. “And see if that competition earlier in the year has helped us to excel now.”
The Flyers and Billikens look forward to an intense match to kick off conference play as this is a rematch of last year’s A-10 Championship.The Flyers ended the Billikens’ season last year, winning 3-2 in the A-10 Conference Final. The Billikens (3-10) enter the matchup with a two-game win streak, and began the season by facing many of the same highly-touted out-of-conference opponents the Flyers faced including Ohio State, Pittsburgh and Illinois State.
Despite last season’s victory, the Flyers aren’t dwelling much on 2016’s success, but rather they are looking ahead to what the competition brings this year.
“No doubt in our minds that we definitely want to return to the A-10 Championship game,” Bruns said. “This is a new year, new team let’s see what we can do and start off fresh.”
Bruns earned A-10 Volleyball Player of the Week last week, after she led the Flyers’ attack in their three games. She recorded a career-high 22 kills with a .600 hitting percentage last Friday night in a 3-0 win against Northern Illinois. She recorded 14 kills and five digs against Western Kentucky to get things going on Saturday and ended the day with another 15 kills against Ohio State.
“I was actually kind of surprised by it (the award), but I had a lot of opportunity to score because our middle’s our really good,” Bruns said. “So I think they gave me the opportunity to win the award, but it’s a great thing. I’m going to play to make the team better.”
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After a tough non-conference schedule featuring matchups against powerhouses like Ohio State, Pitt and Cal Poly, the Flyers are looking to find their rhythm in A-10 play. The Flyers are looking to bounce back from two straight losses against OSU (0-3) and Western Kentucky (1-3).
“It’s good to get that experience going into A-10 play, that’s really good competition and it’s our last game of pre-conference so going in knowing we played Ohio State we know what we need to fix now,” Bruns said. “We wanted to be challenged, it may not be the best outcome but it’s going to prepare us for A-10 play.”
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Not only have the Flyers won three consecutive A-10 Championships, but they have won 38 consecutive conference matches–a streak dating back to Oct. 11, 2014, when they took their last defeat 3-2 at George Washington.
The Flyers travel to Missouri on Friday to face Saint Louis at 8 p.m. They have a rare full week off before returning home to take on Duquesne Sept. 29.
“Right now our record may not show it but I really do think that we are going to make really good strides forward,” Bruns said. “And we are going to be hopefully the A-10 winners again in November.”
Photo Courtesy of Christian Cubacub/Multimedia Editor