Sept. 1, 2007

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -  The Flyer volleyball team continued its trend of hard fought, come from behind victories with a 3-2 (30-26, 18-30, 18-30, 30-26, 16-14) win over Utah on Saturday at the Mortar Board Premier as Head Coach Tim Horsmon picked up his 100th career victory at UD. Dayton (5-0) resumes play later this afternoon with a 5 p.m. ET match against North Carolina that can be followed with Gametracker at www.DaytonFlyers.com.

UD was out hit .237 to .080 in the match and was out blocked 16.5 to 7.0, but remained perfect on the season due to the gritty play of junior Kortney Norris. The Indianapolis native led the Flyers with 13 kills to go along with three blocks and eight digs.

Senior Jamie-Lee Richards added 11 kills and four service aces while Bethany Akerhielm contributed nine kills and five blocks.

Three Flyers had double digits in digs as Adrienne Green and Chelsy Christoff led the way with 11. They were followed by Erin Schroeder who added 10 as well as 42 assists and two service aces. Nicole Bateman came off the bench to add nine more digs as Dayton worked its way back from down two games to one in the match to steal victory over the Utes, which received 37 votes in the latest CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Utah took an early lead in the match at 11-8, but the longest rally of the first game went the way of Dayton thanks to a key save at the net by Chelsy Christoff and kill off a combination by Richards. The rally was the first of four straight points for the Flyers who earned their first lead at 12-11 on another kill by Richards from the left side.

After the Utes knotted the score at 12-all, UD put together another run with three straight to force a Utah timeout. A Richards kill followed by another from Bethany Akerhielm and a Utah attack error put the Flyers on top, 15-12.

Utah evened the score again at 22-22, but Dayton regained control quickly with a 6-1 run that included a kill each by Kortney Norris and Bethany Akerhielm as well as two service aces from Jamie-Lee Richards. The rally put the Flyers ahead 28-23 en route to a 30-26 game one victory. Norris, Akerhielm and Richards each finished with four kills to lead UD in a game one that saw the Utes out hit the Flyers .262 to .217 and lead in blocks 2.5 to 1.0.

Utah dominated from start to finish in the second game and ran away with a 30-18 decision. The Utes out hit the Flyers, .364 to .000 and tallied 2.5 blocks to UD's 1.0 as the match evened at one game a piece.

Dayton continued to struggle in game three as it hit -.182 as a team with just six kills on 33 total attempts. The Flyers also committed four service errors and had just seven digs as a group. As a result, UD lost for the second straight game by a count of 30-18, which put them behind in the match two games to one.

With UD down in the match, the Flyers rebounded in game four to take a 16-12 lead on a service ace by Jamie-Lee Richards. Dayton would lead by at least three for the rest of the game as the Flyer blocking stepped into the forefront. Kortney Norris assisted on three blocks while Bethany Akerhielm helped on two and Lindsay Fletemier on another. UD out hit Utah .195 to .174 as Yvonne Marten led the way with four kills on six swings for the Flyers.

Utah jumped up early in game five with a 7-4 lead, but UD worked its way back to within one at 7-6 on a solo block by Yvonne Marten and a service ace from Chelsy Christoff. The Utes regained the momentum and took the lead back to 9-6 only to have the Flyers even the tally at 9-9 and force a Utah timeout. Richards had two kills in a stretch that saw Dayton take four straight points and a 10-9 advantage.

With UD ahead 12-11, Yvonne Marten picked up a kill to put the Flyers up by two. Then Dayton made it to match point as Kortney Norris and Bethany Akerhielm tipped down a long overpass by the Utes to go up 14-11. Utah would work itself all the way back and knot the score at 14-14, but Kortney Norris ripped a kill through the middle of the block to give Dayton match point again at 15-14. Bethany Akerhielm finished it off for the Flyers with her first service ace into the middle of the court for a 16-14 win and a five-game comeback victory.