Dayton Flyers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 21 Dayton swept Houston in straight sets on Friday evening at Huff Hall during the State Farm Illini Classic (25-19, 25-19, 25-22).

With 16 digs, junior Paige Vargas passed the 1,000-dig mark during her third year as the Flyers' starting libero. Vargas entered the season with 930 digs and quickly reached 1,008 on Friday after recording a career-high of 35 digs in UD's last match at Green Bay. Vargas, who earned A-10 Defensive Player of the Week honors this week, helped hold Houston to a .075 hitting percentage. The Naperville, Ill., native also tied her career-high of four service aces, which has occured three times.

“I thought we competed really well and executed the game plan well,” Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Defensively we were good – I thought Paige Vargas was the difference-maker in the match. She took most of the court passing, she put herself in a position to dig a lot of balls and we scored a lot of points off her serve – so she impacted the match in a lot of different ways for us.”

Junior outside hitter Rachel Krabacher recorded a match-high 18 kills on 52 swings, while sophomore middle Megan Campbell was not far behind with 14 kills on a .478 hitting percentage.

Freshman defensive specialist Rachel Jones started for the first time in her Flyer career, as senior outside hitter Yvonne Marten was sidelined with an injury from last weekend. Marten had started in 32 of Dayton’s last 35 matches leading up to Friday.

“Yvonne was out today – she impacts the game in a lot of ways but injuries are a part of this game,” Sheffield said. “If she isn’t playing, then it gives other players the opportunity to step-up their role. We have a lot of hungry players and I thought they competed real well when we asked them to.”

The 21st-ranked Flyers improve to 4-0, as Houston falls to 3-1. Entering the weekend, all the teams in the State Farm Illini Classic were 3-0.

Dayton continues the State Farm Illini Classic on Saturday against Tennessee at 1:00 p.m. ET and host No. 7 Illinois at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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