NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – For the second straight year, Dayton volleyball is a unanimous selection to win the 2013 Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship in a vote among by the league's nine head coaches that was released Tuesday. The defending champion Flyers will be shooting for their fifth straight A-10 title.

The Flyers, ranked No. 22 by the AVCA in the preseason, will be under the direction of first-year coach Matt Affolder, who takes over for three-time A-10 Coach of the Year Kelly Sheffield. Affolder inherits a team that has lost just one conference match in the last three years and will be led by All-Conference selection Megan Campbell and All-Rookie team members Janna Krafka and Alaina Turner.

"It is definitely an honor to be selected as the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10 Conference," said Affolder. "Our primary goal each year is to win the conference title and advance into the NCAA Tournament. We are working very hard in preparation for the start of the season next Friday, and I know the players are eager to put on the Red and Blue Dayton Flyers Volleyball jersey and step foot on the Frericks Center floor for our opening match."

Dayton garnered 81 points in the poll, ahead of second-place Duquesne which tallied 64 points. The Dukes were 9-5 in league play last season and return All-Conference honorees Arielle Love and Allison Foschia and All-Rookie selections Mary Henry and Taylor Lockett. Saint Louis, which won two of three A-10 titles from 2006-2008 was picked third with 58 points. VCU, which reached the A-10 semifinals in its first year in the league, was fourth with 53 points and George Washington was fifth with 50 points.

Rhode Island checked in at sixth in the preseason poll with 37 points, just ahead of A-10 newcomer George Mason with 26 points. Fordham (25) and La Salle (11) rounded out the voting.

George Washington will host the 2013 Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be played Nov. 22-24 at the Charles E. Smith Center. The 2013 regular season begins the weekend of August 30 with all nine A-10 teams in action. Conference play begins on Friday, Sept. 27.