DAYTON, Ohio - The 23rd-ranked Dayton volleyball team recorded the program's fourth undefeated Atlantic 10 season with its 3-1 (25-21, 28-26, 17-25, 25-14) over VCU Sunday at Frericks Center.
Dayton ends the 2016 regular season with the nation's best winning percentage (.966) with its 28-1 overall record. The Flyers finished A-10 play with a perfect 14-0 mark. VCU moves to 18-13 on the season and 8-6 in league action.
STATS OF THE MATCH
• Junior Jessica Sloan and sophomore Lauren Bruns each tallied a match-high 17 kills and Sloan also had five digs, two blocks and one service ace.
• Mirror images of each other on the attack, junior Amber Erhahon and sophomore Kendyll Brown had 10 kills each in 17 attempts with one error for identical hitting percentages of .529. Erhahon led the Flyers block with one solo and three assisted.
• Junior Jane Emmenecker set 51 assists to go with her five digs and sophomore Margo Wolf was the game's leading passer with 20 digs. Wolf also served up four aces on the afternoon as well.
• VCU was led by Vicky Giommarini with 12 kills while Rebekah Strange posted a team-high 15 digs.
SET-BY-SET
• Set One: Dayton came charging out of the gate and was quickly up 6-1 on VCU. The Rams got it together and rallied to even the set at eight points apiece and eventually took a brief one-point lead at 11-10. A seesaw of scoring commenced with neither team scoring more than two consecutive points through nine more ties. The Flyers were able to put together a 4-0 run late in the set and pulled in front, 22-19. Wolf served up back-to-back aces to close out the set as UD held on for a 25-21 win.
• Set Two: There were seven ties by the time set two got to 7-7 but Dayton was able to go up two, 9-7, following a service ace from Emmenecker and stretched it to four, 13-9, after a 3-0 spurt. Dayton led by as many as five in the set but VCU rallied to knot the frame at 23-all. It took extra points but the Flyers outlasted the Rams, 28-26.
• Set Three: VCU was firing on all cylinders to open set three and quickly jumped out to an 8-3 lead over UD. A 3-0 Ram run pushed the advantage to eight, 16-8, and VCU reached 20 ahead eight again. A late 4-1 rally from Dayton kept the Flyers in the game but VCU closed it out with a 25-17 win to stay alive in the match.
• Set Four: The Rams scored four of the first six points and were ahead two at 5-3 when the Flyers turned the tables with a 6-0 run to pull in front, 8-5. Dayton was ahead eight at 16-8 following a 4-0 run. UD reached the 20-point mark on a kill from Erhahon and held set point at 24-13. The Rams held once but Bruns laid down a kill to end the set at 25-14.
UP NEXT
Today's match concludes the 2016 regular season for the Flyers. Dayton has earned the No. 1 seed and first-round bye for the 2016 Atlantic 10 Championship. The tournament is being hosted by Saint Louis and is taking place November 18-20 at SLU's Chaifetz Pavilion.
