DAYTON, Ohio – In its weekend finale, the University of Dayton volleyball team got past Rhode Island, 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 30-28, 18-25, 15-10), in Atlantic 10 action at Frericks Center. The victory extends the Flyers' winning streak to nine matches as UD remains unbeaten in league play. With the win, Dayton improves to 11-5 on the season with a 4-0 mark in A-10 matches while Rhode Island drops its second-straight match to fall to 11-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
STATS OF THE MATCH• Senior
Alaina Turner recorded a season-high 28 kills in 54 attempts and got her eighth double-double of the season with 10 digs. She also tallied a career-high seven blocks as the Flyers had 14.5 team blocks in the match.
• Senior
Jenna Jendryk also had double-digit kills with 12 and sophomore
Jane Emmenecker narrowly missed the double-double with 54 assists and nine digs.
• Sophomore
Amber Erhahon was a beast at the net with a career-high nine blocks to go with eight kills and senior
Janna Krafka passed 21 digs to go with two service aces.
• Rhode Island was led by Franki Darnold with 21 kills and Olivia Budinich with a match-high 23 digs.Callan Kinnan recorded the Rams' only double-double of the match with 55 assists and 15 digs.
• Dayton narrowly out-hit Rhode Island, .225 to .212, but the Rams tallied 70 kills to the Flyers' 67.
SET-BY-SET• Set One: Rhode Island started strong, taking a 6-3 lead over Dayton in set one. The Rams were leading by seven, 14-7, but the Flyers pulled to within two at 18-16 after a kill from senior
Jill Loiars.
• Set Two: From first serve, the second set remained close in the early going with the fifth tie coming at 6-6. Rhode Island was able to take over the lead and was leading by five at 17-12. A quick 3-0 spurt from the Flyers cut into the Rams' advantage and UD continued to hang close. Rhode Island reached set point at 24-22 but Dayton held twice. The Rams scored the last two points of the set to take the game, 26-24.
• Set Three: The fourth tie of the set came at 6-6 but Dayton used a 6-1 run to jump out to the 12-7 lead. The Flyers were up five, 17-12, but the Rams rallied to pull within two, 17-15. URI was able to even the set at 18-all with an assisted block and took the lead on the following point by serving up an ace. A kill from URI's Castro set up game-point for the Rams at 24-23 but the Flyers would not relent, earning set point at 25-24 on a URI attack error. It would go long but Dayton claimed the third frame, 30-28.
• Set Four: Much the same in the fourth set and a kill from Turner evened the set at six points apiece. Three consecutive Ram attacking errors gave the Flyers the three-point lead at 9-6 but the set was tied again at 11-11. A 4-0 run by URI set the score at 17-13 in favor of the Rams and Rhode Island would not relinquish the lead. The Rams won set four, 25-18, to even the match at 2-2.
• Set Five: Dayton's lead was 3-1 after back-to-back Rhode Island attacking errors but the Rams evened the set at five-all. The Flyers were the first to eight, leading by one as the teams switched sides and UD went up four, 11-7. Back-to-back service aces by the Rams cut the advantage to one, 11-10, but the Flyers scored four-straight points to take the set, 15-10, and the match, 3-2.
UP NEXT• Dayton will hit the road next weekend for a two-match stint in the Washington, D.C., area. UD will square off against George Mason on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in Fairfax, Va., followed by a 7 p.m. tilt at George Washington on Saturday.
