ST. LOUIS – For the third time in the last six seasons, the University of Dayton volleyball finished its Atlantic 10 Conference schedule undefeated with a 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 25-17) win at Saint Louis Saturday afternoon at SLU's Chaifetz Pavilion. With the victory, the Flyers extend their winning streak to a nation-long 21 wins and improved to 23-5 overall and 14-0 in league action. Saint Louis falls to 21-9 on the season and 10-4 in A-10 play.
STATS OF THE MATCH• Senior
Alaina Turner recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 11 digs while senior
Jill Loiars also tallied 15 kills and hit at a blistering .538 for the match.
• Senior
Janna Krafka led three Flyers with double-digit digs as she got under a match-high 24 balls. Freshman
Margo Wolf added 10 digs to go with five assists and two service aces.
• Sophomore
Jane Emmenecker set 34 assists and served up two aces for Dayton.
• Saint Louis was led by Danielle Rygelski with a match-high 19 kills to go with 10 digs.
• Saint Louis narrowly edged Dayton in the kills department, 55-51, but the Flyers served up 11 aces to the Bills' three.
SET-BY-SET• Set One: The first set remained close through the early going but Dayton was able to pull ahead two, 7-5, after a Saint Louis attacking error. A 4-0 run by the Billikens gave SLU a 10-8 advantage but the Flyers pulled back even at 13-all. Saint Louis answered with a 5-0 spurt to go up 18-13 and Dayton called its second timeout trailing, 20-16. The Flyers rallied again to tie the set at 21-21 and retook the lead at 23-22. Dayton scored the last four points of the game to take the first set, 25-22.
• Set Two: The Flyers and Billikens again traded points early in the second set and the frame was tied seven times before Dayton was able to get ahead two, 11-9. Saint Louis took the 18-15 lead on the strength of a 5-0 run and never looked back. The Bills lead by as many as six, 22-16, before taking the set, 25-19, to even the match at 1-1.
• Set Three: Set three was even at eight points apiece when Saint Louis scored three straight to take the 11-8 advantage. The next three-point lead would come at 22-19 in favor of the Flyers. Dayton reached set point at 24-19 but Saint Louis wasn't out and used a 4-0 spurt to pull within one, 24-23. Turner terminated the next ball over and the Flyers took the set, 25-23, to go up 2-1 on the Billikens.
• Set Four: Sophomore
Jessica Sloan laid down a kill to give UD a 5-4 lead early in set four and back-to-back SLU attacking errors put Dayton up three, 8-5. Emmenecker served up an ace at 10-6 and the Flyer lead was five, 12-7, after a service ace from Wolf. Sloan put down a kill to give push Dayton ahead eight, 19-11, but Saint Louis rallied to within three, 19-16. It was all Flyers after that as the Billikens only scored one more point and UD took the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-1.
UP NEXT• Dayton has already clinched the 2015 Atlantic 10 Regular Season title and will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming A-10 Championship. The Flyers will have a first-round bye and will play on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. The Championship is being played at the Smith Center in Washington, D.C., and hosted by George Washington.
