Sept. 3, 2008

Weekly Release

The University of Dayton Flyers look to shake off a 1-2 start to the season at the ASU Sheraton Classic. Northwestern comes into town with a 1-1 record after splitting at the Chicagoland Challenge Championship hosted by Loyola Chicago. UD will also challenge the undefeated Towson Tigers after they defeated Atlantic 10 opponents Rhode Island and Fordham in the Quinnipiac Invitational. Capping off the Flyer Invitational, Dayton will square off against the Cleveland State Vikings (1-2). The Vikings lost their first two matches against Northern Illinois and Connecticut before dispatching Chicago State in three sets.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Friday night's matchup between Northwestern and Dayton will mark the first time these two programs have competed against each other in volleyball. They are led on the attack by Sabel Moffett 6-0 middle blocker for the Wildcats. Moffett is hitting .475 in seven sets played with 23 kills. Elyse Glab and Kate Nobilio are handling the majority of the defensive work with 23 and 40 digs respectively.

The undefeated Towson Tigers come into Frericks Center undefeated after sweeping the Quinnipiac Invitational. Valerie Chromy leads the attack for Towson with a .324 hitting percentage.

Cross-state foe Cleveland State will help UD round out the Dayton Flyer Invitational. Beth Greulich leads the Vikings with a .340 hitting percentage and 23 kills after the Northern Illinois Invitational. UD swept CSU in their last meeting on Nov. 4, 2007 to extend their lifetime series advantage to 8-3 over the Vikings.

STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
In the latest CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Top 25 Poll, the University of Dayton Flyers received 15 votes. Flyer opponents are also ranking well in the polls, Purdue is ranked 18th in the nation and Illinois is following closely in the 19th slot. Louisville, Ohio and Saint Louis are also currently receiving votes. In addition, the Flyers have been ranked or receiving votes in the national polls since Aug. 29 of 2007.

THE GARDEN CITY GRENADE
Redshirt sophomore Lindsay Fletemier hit .684 in the Flyers win over UNLV. Fletemier is currently ranked eighth in the Atlantic 10 with a .357 hitting percentage this season. She is also tied for fifth with senior Nicole Bateman for kills per set.

BUILDING BLOCKS
Among all A-10 performers, Lindsay Fletemier is third in total blocks. In addition, Fletemier is ranked ninth in the conference for blocks per set with an average of 1.09.

ASSAILING THE OPPOSITION
The triple threat attack of Nicole Bateman, Lindsay Fletemier and Bethany Akerhielm are ranked among the conference's best in kills. Bateman and Fletemier are currently averaging 3.18 kills per set while Akerhielm is averaging 3.00 per set.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
Three Flyers rank among the A-10's top defensive players. Erin Schroeder leads the Flyer effort with 4.27 digs per set ranking her fourth in the A-10. Chelsy Christoff is ranked fifth with 3.64 digs per set and Nicole Bateman is eighth with 3.55 digs per set.

SHEFFIELD NABS FIRST WIN
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield collected his first win as a Flyer on Aug. 29 after helping direct the team to a 3-1 win over the UNLV Rebels. The Flyers closed out the Rebels 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 26-24 and finished 1-2 in the tournament.

SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS
The Flyers had an unprecedented year in 2007. After knocking off 17th ranked Purdue in three sets and going 32-1, the Flyers climbed as high as 12th In the AVCA Top 25 polls before losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Michigan State.

FLYING HIGH IN FRERICKS
The ferocious Frericks Center has been a challenge for visitors over the past five seasons as the Flyers hold a 51-11 (.822) record at home since 2004. The 5,000-seat venue is the third-largest volleyball only facility in the nation and with an average attendance of more than1,000, the Frericks Center gives the Flyers a definite home court advantage.

TOURNAMENT TEAMS
Dayton has appeared in the NCAA Tournament four times since 2003. They have advanced to the second round twice in 2003 and 2007. Last season they played to a sold out crowd at Frericks Center as the Flyers hosted the First and Second Rounds.

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION
The Flyers will face a competitive schedule this season matching up against nine teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season while taking part in 15 home matches at Frericks Center.

The average record of this season's opponents in 2007 was 18-13 with nine different teams reaching the 20-win plateau. Cleveland State, Miami (Ohio), Long Island, Louisville, Ohio, UNLV and Xavier all took part in the NCAA First Round while Albany and Purdue each advanced to the NCAA Second Round. Five schools won their conference tournament while three others advanced to their respective championship match.

OLD MEETS NEW
The 2008 Dayton Flyers closed out the Alumnae in just three sets during a preseason tune-up on August 23. The Flyers were tested by a tough alumnae squad that was made up of three winners of the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year award, 2003 recipient Erin Treadway, 2004 honoree Christy Utnage as well as the 2005 and 2006 recipient Faye Barhorst. Jamie Lee-Richards a two-time honoree for A-10 First Team All-Conference, Carrie (Snider) Dearth the UD record holder for digs in a single-season and Adrienne Green the record holder for digs in a career were also among the present alumnae. Three-time A-10 Championship winner Margo Moeller and UD Assistant Athletics Director / Senior Woman Administrator Megan Pease capped off a tough alumnae squad.

VOLLEYBALL PICKED SECOND IN ATLANTIC 10
Defending Atlantic 10 Champion Dayton was selected to finish second in the Atlantic 10 West Division in the A-10 Preseason Coaches Poll. Voting was conducted among the conference's 10 member head coaches with each person not allowed to vote for his or her own team.

Saint Louis and Temple were slated to win the West and East Divisions respectively in 2008. Dayton followed the Billikens in second place while Xavier, which earned an at-large berth to the 2007 NCAA Tournament, was third followed by Rhode Island and Duquesne in the West Division. COOKING WITH SHEFF The University of Dayton welcomed Kelly Sheffield as the seventh head coach in Flyer volleyball history on March 25, 2008.

Sheffield, a native of Muncie, Ind., came to UD after seven seasons as the head coach at Albany. A two-time America East Conference Coach of the Year, Sheffield led the Great Danes to three trips to the NCAA Tournament including a berth in the second round this past season. Albany won back-to-back Conference Tournament Championships under Sheffield and three titles in his last four years. In addition, Albany volleyball won 20 matches or more in four out of five seasons.

SHEFFIELD THROWS OUT OPENING PITCH
The Dayton community rolled out the red carpet for new head coach Kelly Sheffield when the Dayton Dragons, a Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds featured Sheffield as the ceremonial first pitch on Aug. 17 at Fifth Third Field in downtown Dayton.

FLYERS TOPPING 20
UD has won at least 20 matches in each of the last seven seasons. The Flyers have also posted 13 consecutive winning seasons and have more wins in the last five seasons (110) than any other five-year period in its Division I history.

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE FLYER FAMILY
In addition to signing Kelly Sheffield to be the next head coach for UD, the Flyers also welcomed two new faces to the mix. Assistant coaches Matt Affolder and Kristin Fiorillo joined the Flyer family in April to complete the coaching staff for the season.

Affolder made his way to UD after stops in Indiana, Southern Illinois and Indiana State before calling himself a Flyer. During his time at IU, Affolder worked as a recruiting coordinator and coach of the outside hitters with the Hoosiers.

Fiorillo, one of Sheffield's former student-athletes, joined the staff after a year-long stint with Division III SUNY New Paltz. Fiorillo was the top assistant for SUNY New Paltz and helped guide them to a 27-12 overall record and an 8-2 mark in SUNYAC play. The squad advanced to the semifinals of their conference tournament on the strength of the SUNYAC East Division Player of the Year, one First Team selection and two Second Team picks.

GETTING PROPS
For their efforts in a historic 2007 season, senior Erin Schroeder and redshirt sophomore Lindsay Fletemier received conference and national honors. Fletemier earned Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year honors for her outstanding play. Fletemier had a conference hitting percentage of .346 and was second on the team in kills per set with 2.86. In addition, Fletemier earned six A-10 Rookie of the Week awards.

Erin Schroeder and alumna Jamie-Lee Richards earned Honorable Mention All-America by the AVCA. Dayton tallied kills on 42.1 percent of the balls set by Schroeder who averaged 12.01 assists per game in 2007. She was also second on the team with 2.84 digs per game and is more than 80 percent of the way to becoming just the second player in program history to record both 1,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs. Schroeder was Second Team All-Conference selection this season while also being named to the All-Championship Team.