Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship Location: Dayton, Ohio Venue: Frericks Center Live Coverage: Gametracker, video streaming (all matches) Tickets: Purchased at the Frericks Center gate.
Schedule Friday 5 p.m. - #4 George Washington vs. #5 Duquesne
7:30 p.m. - #3 Saint Louis vs. #6 Rhode Island
Saturday 4:30 p.m. – Chalk Talk with Coach Sheffield (Room 010) 5 p.m. - #1 Dayton vs. #4 or #5 7:30 p.m. - #2 Xavier vs. #3 or #6
Sunday 2:30 p.m. – Chalk Talk with Coach Sheffield (Room 010) * 3 p.m. – Championship title match * - if Dayton advances to Sunday’s match.
#1 Dayton Record: 22-6, 14-1 A-10 Ranking: rv (AVCA) Coach: Kelly Sheffield
at Dayton: 101-27, 4th Season Tournament titles: 6 Tournament record: 15-7 Location: Dayton, Ohio Enrollment: 7,734 Nickname: Flyers Court: Frericks Center
#2 Xavier Record: 19-10, 11-4 A-10 Coach: Mike Johnson, 2nd Season Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Enrollment: 7,000 Nickname: Musketeers Court: Cintas Center Tournament titles: 1 (2001) Tournament record: 8-11 Series: UD leads, 46-25. Last meeting: at Xavier 3, Dayton 2 – Nov. 4, 2011
#3 Saint Louis Record: 14-11, 10-5 A-10 Head Coach: Kent Miller, 1st Season Location: St. Louis, Mo. Enrollment: 13,785 Nickname: Billikens Court: Chaifetz Pavilion Tournament titles: 2 (2006, 08) Tournament record: 8-3 Series: UD leads, 17-15. Last meeting: Dayton 3, at Saint Louis 0 – Nov. 13, 2011
#4 George Washington Record: 20-9, 9-6 A-10 Coach: Amanda Ault, 1st Season Location: Washington, D.C. Enrollment: 20,427 Nickname: Colonials Court: Charles E. Smith Center Tournament titles: 4 (1993, 94, 95, 00) Tournament record: 18-21 Series: UD leads, 24-9. Last meeting: at Dayton 3, George Washington 0 – Oct. 29, 2011
#5 Duquesne Record: 18-12, 8-7 A-10 Coach: Steve Opperman, 14th Season Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. Enrollment: 10,363 Nickname: Dukes Court: A.J. Palumbo Center Tournament titles: 0 Tournament record: 2-5 Series: UD leads, 32-2. Last meeting: at Dayton 3, Duquesne 0 – Oct. 1, 2011
#6 Rhode Island Record: 15-14, 7-8 A-10 Coach: Bob Schneck, 31st Season Location: Kingston, R.I. Enrollment: 16,392 Nickname: Rams Court: Keaney Gymnasium Tournament titles: 3 (1991, 92, 96) Tournament record: 22-18 Last meeting: Dayton 3, at Rhode Island 0 – Oct. 21, 2011
Last Weekend Dayton concluded the A-10 regular season with a 14-1 record after a pair of sweeps on the road against La Salle and Saint Louis … Head Coach Kelly Sheffield reached his 100th win at Dayton as UD improved to 29-0 all-time against La Salle … Outside hitter Rachel Krabacher earned her fourth A-10 Offensive Player of the Week nod, tallying 35 digs on a .337 hitting percentage … Libero Paige Vargas was named A-10 Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 6.5 digs per set … Dayton has won seven of the last eight regular season titles, including three consecutive.
Three Named Academic All-District Sophomore Megan Campbell (First Team), senior Yvonne Marten (First Team) and junior Rachel Krabacher (Second Team) were named Capital One Academic All-District 5, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America … First Team Academic All‐District® honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All‐America® Team ballot … Last season Marten and graduated senior Becky Novacek were All-District honorees, becoming the first representatives from UD since 2004 to be voted as such.
Sheffield Wins 100th At Dayton Fourth-year Head Coach Kelly Sheffield won his 100th match as UD’s head coach on Nov. 11 at La Salle … Sheffield became the fastest coach to reach 100 wins at Dayton, needing just 127 matches … He is also the first coach in Dayton history to reach 100 wins in less than four seasons … Sheffield averaged 26 wins per season in his first three seasons at UD … Last season Sheffield won his 200th career match at the Notre Dame Invitational against Santa Clara on Sept. 17, 2010 ... Sheffield spent seven years building the program at Albany, compiling 142 wins and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Sheffield is the 2011 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year … In 2010, Sheffield was the AVCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year and A-10 Co-Coach of the Year.
In The National Rankings UD earned 16 points (positioned at No. 31) in the most recent AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll – the 44th consecutive week UD has been receiving votes … Five of UD’s six losses were against teams which are currently ranked … Dayton was ranked No. 19 in the preseason poll … In the NCAA RPI, the Flyers are ranked No. 39.
Dayton's former streak of 22 consecutive weeks in the top 25 began on Nov. 23, 2009, ranked 24th and ended on Sept. 5 ... The Flyers’ highest position in the AVCA poll is No. 12, which came on the weeks of Oct. 15, 2007 and Nov. 22, 2010 ... The 2010 Dayton volleyball squad became the first team of any sport in Dayton history to be nationally ranked for the entire season after finishing with a No. 15 ranking in the final AVCA poll ... Dayton has finished the season in the top 25 three times – in 2007 (24th), 2009 (25th) and 2010 (15th).
Statistical Leaders The Flyers lead the A-10 in team hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, kills per set and blocks per and aces per set … Sophomore middle blocker Megan Campbell leads the A-10 in blocks per set and hitting percentage – overall and during conference play – ranking 4th in the nation in hitting percentage and 15th in blocks per set … Junior outside hitter Rachel Krabacher is also is the A-10’s overall and conference-only leader in kills per set and points per set, ranking 14th in the nation in kills and 16th in points per set … Sophomore defensive specialist Allyson Morey paces the A-10 in aces per set … Junior setter Samantha Selsky leads the A-10 in assists per set.
Vargas Fifth In Career Digs Junior libero Paige Vargas enters the weekend with 1,388 career digs … She ranks fifth in career digs at Dayton, needing 27 to pass Nicole Bateman (2005-08) for fourth-place … Vargas became the 11th Flyer in program history to pass the 1,000-dig mark after recording 16 digs against Houston on Sept. 2 … The Naperville, Ill., native recorded a career-high 35 digs this season at Green Bay (8/27) – the most since she recorded 31 against Xavier on Nov. 22, 2009 … Dayton’s career digs record is held by Adrienne Green (2004-07) with 2,070.
Career Digs at Dayton
1. Adrienne Green (2004-07) 2,070
2. Cindy Moffitt (1987-90) 1,446
3. Cathy Wojciechowski (1990-93) 1,429
4. Nicole Bateman (2005-08) 1,415
5. Paige Vargas (2009- ) 1,388
Aces Abound Allyson Morey leads the A-10 in aces per set with 0.38 … The sophomore defensive specialist has 37 total aces and is on pace to record the most aces in a single season since Jamie-Lee Richards recorded 65 in 2007.
Dayton recorded a season-high of 10 service aces without recording a single service error at George Washington on Oct. 7 … It is the first known match in program history in which UD has recorded no service errors … Samantha Selsky and Paige Vargas each had three aces in the match to lead the Flyers.
Tough Schedule Five of Dayton’s six losses were against teams that are currently ranked in the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll … Those five loses all came consecutively – to make for UD’s longest losing streak since 1999 ... When No. 20 Pepperdine defeated Dayton on its home court on Sept. 9, it was the first regular season home loss for UD since Nov. 15, 2008 against No. 20 Saint Louis.
Academic Excellence For the fourth consecutive year in 2010-11 Dayton brought home the AVCA Team Academic Award, given to programs with a team GPA of 3.3 or higher … Dayton is one of three top 15 teams to earn the award this season, along with Cal and Stanford … Dayton and Fordham are the only two teams from the Atlantic 10 Conference to earn the award.
The most-recent NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) was released on Oct. 25 as the Flyers scored a perfect 100 percent.
Three Flyers (Campbell, Marten and Krabacher) were named Capital One Academic All-District … Those same three players were also voted Academic All-Conference.
Dominant 15-Match Winning Streak Dayton once held a 15-match winning streak this season … During Dayton’s 15-match winning streak, the Flyers had a 45-2 set record … UD held its opponents to under 20 points in all but five of the 47 sets during the streak … The Flyers also had a .351-to-.074 advantage over their opponents in hitting percentage … UD also maintained a 29-match regular season (36 overall) winning streak against A-10 opponents this season.
Selsky Slams A Triple-Double Junior setter Samantha Selsky recorded the first triple-double of the season in all of Division I volleyball … Selsky went for 10 kills, 13 digs and 44 assists in five sets against Illinois on Sept. 3 … In her first season as Dayton’s starting setter, the California native was named A-10 Setter of the Year.
Preseason Favorites The Flyers were picked to win their third consecutive Atlantic 10 title in 2011, according the A-10 Preseason Coaches Poll … Dayton has won the regular season and tournament A-10 titles the last two seasons (2009 & 2010) … UD has been to the NCAA Tournament in seven of the last eight seasons.
A-10 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Offensive Player of the Week Megan Campbell – Aug. 30 Campbell earned her first A-10 Player of the Week honor after being named MVP of the Green Bay/Country Inn & Suites Tournament. The Versailles, Ohio native registered a career-high eight blocks in UD’s season opening, 3-1, triumph against North Dakota, before combining for 33 kills in the Flyers’ two matches on Saturday against James Madison and host Green Bay. Campbell had 16 kills on an astounding .789 hitting percentage in the three-set sweep of the Dukes and produced a career-best 17 kills, to go along with her six blocks in a 3-1 victory at Green Bay. She finished the weekend with 41 kills for a .400 hitting percentage, 16 total blocks and five digs.
Rachel Krabacher – Sept. 19 Most Valuable Player at the Blue and White Classic in Buffalo, N.Y., as the Flyers swept all three opponents to win the event title … Led the tournament field with 4.33 kills per set while recording a hitting percentage of .388 … Opened the tournament with back-to-back double-doubles – her eighth in UD’s 12 matches – against Cornell and Syracuse, while adding a career-high of four aces against the Orange, with all four occurring consecutively … She capped off the Classic with 12 kills on a .409 clip against host Buffalo.
Rachel Krabacher – Oct. 3 Totaled 37 kills and averaged 5.29 kills per set on a .329 hitting percentage … 18 kills in four sets against SLU on Sept. 30, before notching the second-most kills in a three-set match among all A-10 players with 19 (.462 hitting percentage) against Duquesne on Oct. 1 … Also recorded 16 digs, four assists, two aces and a block on the weekend.
Rachel Krabacher – Oct. 17 Posted 25 kills in leading Dayton to a 3-1 win over second-place Xavier on Oct. 14 – the Flyers’ only match of that week … Recorded a .276 hitting percentage on 58 swings on her way to tallying 25 or more kills for the second time this season … Her 25 kills is a conference match-high among four-set matches and is just the seventh time since 2004 that a UD player has recorded more than 25 kills.
Rachel Krabacher – Nov. 14 Tallied 35 kills in leading Dayton to a pair of wins over Saint Louis and La Salle … Committed just six attack errors and hit .337 for the week, including .448 in the La Salle match and .333 against the Billikens … Double-double versus SLU, registering 19 kills and 11 digs for her 11th of the season … Krabacher’s four A-10 Offensive Player of the Week nods are the most in the league.
Defensive Player of the Week Paige Vargas – Aug. 30 Vargas earned her first A-10 Defensive Player of the Week honor after helping Dayton to a perfect 3-0 weekend with 62 digs and averaging 5.64 digs per set. The Naperville, Ill., native posted a career-high 35 digs in a four-set win against Green Bay Aug. 27 – the most by any Flyer since she recorded 31 against Xavier on Nov. 22, 2009. Vargas’ defensive passing and reception helped hold UD’s competitors to a .183 hitting percentage.
Megan Campbell – Sept. 19 Led UD’s front court with 16 blocks (1.78 per set) to help hold weekend opponents to a .037 hitting percentage … Named to the All-Tournament Team of the Blue and White Classic in Buffalo, N.Y., as Dayton rolled past Cornell, Syracuse and Buffalo … Opened the weekend with seven blocks against Cornell, before recording four blocks against Syracuse – more than the Orange, the nation’s leader in blocks per set, registered as a team – and five against host Buffalo.
Megan Campbell – Oct. 3 Posted 15 blocks in the two matches, averaging 2.14 per set, and helped UD limit opponents to a .131 hitting percentage … On Sept. 30 against SLU she posted nine block-assists en route to the four-set win and added six blocks (one solo) against Duquesne on Oct. 1.
Megan Campbel – Oct. 24 Averaged 1.56 blocks per set and totaled 14 blocks against Wright State, Rhode Island and Fordham … Issued a match-high five block assists against Wright State and notched five blocks at Rhode Island – one solo … Also added four blocks at Fordham as UD out-blocked the Rams 9.0-to-1.0.
Paige Vargas – Nov. 14 Recorded 39 digs in two three-set matches, for an average of 6.5 digs per set … She had 16 digs at La Salle and 23 digs at Saint Louis – a season-high for a three-set match … Recorded five assists and an ace.
Rookie of the Week Isolde Hannan – Oct. 24 One of Dayton’s top blockers in three sweeps against Wright State, Rhode Island and Fordham … Totaled 11.0 blocks with five block-assists at both Rhode Island and Fordham … Her five blocks at Fordham was a match-high, as UD went on to out-block the Rams 9.0-to-1.0 … Did not record an attacking error on her way to a .308 hitting percentage … After that weekend, Hannan ranked fifth in the conference in blocks per set during conference play (1.17).
