Sept. 21, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio -  The 18th ranked Dayton Flyer volleyball team took a page from their cross country friends on Friday as UD overcame a 2-1 deficit for the fourth time this season. Dayton beat Saint Louis, 3-2 (31-29, 28-30, 28-30, 30-28, 15-12) in front of 1,225 fans at Frericks Center to improve upon the best record in the nation at 14-0.

In a match that took two hours and 37 minutes to complete in front of the second largest crowd in school history, Dayton out hit Saint Louis .187 to .170 on the night in a rematch of the 2006 Atlantic 10 Championship Match won by Saint Louis. Flyer senior Jamie-Lee Richards led all players with 22 kills including the end of a fifth-game rally that saw the ball cross the net 29 times.

Junior Bethany Akerhielm hit .480 with 16 kills, nine blocks and a service ace while classmate Kortney Norris added 11 kills and 18 digs for her first double-double of the season.

Defensively, UD led SLU, 80-68, in digs as senior Adrienne Green finished with a season-best 27. Sophomore Chelsy Christoff added 12 digs while Erin Schroeder had seven digs of her own to go along with 62 assists and nine kills in just 17 attempts.

After a back and forth start to the match, Saint Louis used a 3-0 spurt in game one to gain a 16-13 lead beginning with a Flyer error and two consecutive kills by Lauren Christman and Sammi McCloud. SLU stretched its advantage to 18-14, but following a UD timeout the Flyers went on a 4-0 run to even the count at 18-all. Lindsay Fletemier started the charge with a kill followed by a solo block and a kill by Bethany Akerhielm and a Billiken set error.

Dayton finally finished off a tightly contested game one with kills from Jamie-Lee Richards and Kortney Norris as UD won 31-29 in an opening stanza that 16 tied scores and four lead changes. The Flyers were out hit by a narrow .220 to .225 margin while service aces (1-1) and blocks (3.0-3.0). Bethany Akerhielm led the way for UD with six kills in the first game followed by five from Kortney Norris.

SLU squeezed out a 30-28 victory in game two as the Billikens took advantage of 13 Flyer attack errors in the frame. Jamie-Lee Richards tallied six kills and Adrienne Green had nine digs to keep the Flyers close, but three straight attack errors at the end of the game by Dayton allowed Saint Louis to even the match at 1-1. The Billikens also held a 4.0-1.0 lead in blocks to win despite no SLU player recording more than three kills in game two. ;l Dayton fought its way back from an early deficit to even the score at 24-24 in game three. The teams traded points back and forth until a kill by Robynne Green on the right side evened the court again at 28-28. However, Saint Louis rebounded with a strong middle block by Lauren Christman and Whitney Roth to force a game point at 29-28. Then Dayton's eighth attack error of the third game proved to be costly as a tip fell just short of the net to give the Billikens a 30-28 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Both sides hit at a high rate during the third game with Dayton holding a .344 to .321 advantage. However, the Billikens led in blocks (3.0-1.0) and service aces (4-1) to help make up a 19-12 Flyer lead in kills. Jamie-Lee Richards lead all players again with six kills while Robynne Green added four of her own, but another balanced effort from the Billikens proved to be the difference.

In game four, Dayton used a .238 to -.100 advantage in hitting percentage to secure a 30-28 win and force a deciding game five. Robynne Green, Jamie-Lee Richards and Kortney Norris tallied four kills each, but the Flyers had to withstand a late rally by the Billikens to pull out the win. Dayton had 4.0 blocks to Saint Louis' 1.0 and made a match-low five attack errors to outlast Saint Louis in part because of three kills and six block assists by Bethany Akerhielm.

The fifth game was even at 4-4 until Dayton went ahead on a kill by Lindsay Fletemier. Then in what was the longest and most exciting rally of the match as the ball changed sides of the court 29 times, Jamie-Lee Richards pushed the ball over the top of the net for a Flyer point that brought the crowd to its feet and gave UD a 6-4 lead.

Saint Louis came back to knot the score at 7-7 before a solo block by Jamie-Lee Richards started a 4-0 Flyer burst. Dayton also scored on a kill by Bethany Akerhielm and a solo block by Erin Schroeder as well as a Saint Louis attack error.

The score would even again at 12-12 before Richards struck again with a kill from the right side on an angled shot to the back left corner. A SLU attack error and a block by Bethany Akerhielm and Robynne Green finished it off for UD which won its A-10 opener for the second straight season.

Dayton returns to action on Saturday at Frericks Center at 5 p.m. ET on Civil Service Day. All military, police and fire personnel who arrive in uniform and their immediate families will be admitted for just $1.