Oct. 20, 2006

SAINT LOUIS -  Visiting Dayton volleyball prevailed in a battle for first place in the Atlantic 10 West Division with a 3-1 (22-30, 36-34, 30-24, 30-23) victory over Saint Louis on Friday evening. The win is the ninth straight of the season for the Flyers (18-5, 8-0 A-10) and their 20th consecutive regular season victory in conference play.

The duo of Nicole Bateman and Jamie-Lee Richards each tallied double-doubles on the night for the visitors. Bateman posted a match-high 20 kills to go along with 12 digs while Richards finished with 18 kills and 10 digs for her fourth straight double-double.

Senior Faye Barhorst hit .680 with 19 kills and a team-high five blocks while Robynne Green added 13 kills and four service aces for Dayton which outhit Saint Louis .322 to .272 behind 70 assists and four blocks from Erin Schroeder.

Junior libero Adrienne Green rallied the Flyer defense with a match-high 25 digs as SLU's hitting percentage decreased in each game of the match from .433 in game one to .147 in the fourth game.

Riding an emotional wave in game one, Saint Louis bolted to an early 6-2 lead as senior Angela Powers hammered three kills right out of the shoot. Leading 13-9, SLU ran off five points to take a commanding lead. The Flyers climbed back within 20-15 after a Billiken attack error, but killed their momentum with a service error. SLU senior Tatyana Menshikova put her stamp on the game with three kills down the stretch, including game point, as the Bills prevailed 30-22. The Bills hit .433 in the first game and had eight blocks while UD did not record a block.

In a tight game two, Dayton rallied to knot the match 36-34 although the Billikens fought off four game points before succumbing. Saint Louis again rolled out fast with Menshikova recording three straight kills as SLU led 10-5. But the Flyers slowly climbed back as reigning A-10 Player of the Year Faye Barhorst put down five kills, seemingly whenever UD needed a key point. UD finally tied the game at 20 on Nicole Bateman's kill, but SLU took a 26-23 edge after the Flyers' Bateman was long. UD again tied the game at 28 on another Bateman kill, and the teams began trading points. However, UD continued to have the edge as the Bills kept fighting off game points. After Bills freshman Sammi McCloud pounded a kill for a 33-32 lead, SLU couldn't get the decisive point on serve as UD's Jamie-Lee Richards recorded a kill. With the game tied at 34, Richards struck again and Erin Schroeder put the winner down in the middle of the SLU floor.

Game three began as a Flyers runaway when UD scored the first eight points and surged to a 22-8 advantage. But with SLU's Powers knocking down three kills and Lasater registering a pair of blocks, the Billikens began a desperate comeback. SLU pulled within 24-20 on Menshikova's kill, prompting a UD timeout. The Flyers responded with kills from Robynne Green and Chauntay Mickens and were able to close out the Bills 30-24 on Barhorst's push to SLU's vacant back row.  Saint Louis dug itself a deep 7-1 hole in the opening moments of game four and never truly recovered. The Bills were gaining some momentum and had climbed within 19-16 when Sutton Lasater and Lauren Christman combined for a block, but an ensuing setting error killed the rally. UD's Green had a pair of kills and a block in the stretch, and Richards' kill closed the game 30-23.

Dayton resumes its weekend road trip with an Atlantic 10 Conference match at Duquesne on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The match can be followed live with Gametracker at www.DaytonFlyers.com.