DAYTON - The University of Dayton volleyball team will close out the pre-conference tournament season of its schedule this weekend at the Ohio State Buckeye Invitational Sept. 15-16. On Friday, Dayton will match-up against Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky and it slated to close out the weekend against host Ohio State.

Coverage
Friday's matches will be held at OSU's St. John Arena in Columbus and will have live stats as well as a live video feed via the Ohio State volleyball Facebook page. On Saturday, matches will be played in Bexley, Ohio, at Capital Center on Capital's campus. Live stats will be available on Saturday but no live video as of now.

About Dayton
Dayton (7-4) hosted IUPUI on Tuesday for a mid-week match-up at Frericks Center, picking up a 3-0 win over the Jaguars. The Flyers have won three consecutive and four out of their last five matches heading into the Ohio State Buckeye Invitational this weekend. Senior Amber Erhahon, the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week, leads the A-10 and ranks 14th nationally with a .458 hitting percentage to go with 3.24 kills/set (7th A-10) and 1.29 blocks/set (4th A-10). Senior Jane Emmenecker serves as the squad's primary setter with 10.16 assists/set (2nd A-10) while junior Lauren Bruns leads the team with 3.39 kills/set (4th A-10).

Scouting Northern Illinois
Northern Illinois (1-11) is coming off its first win of the season on Tuesday, a 3-1 win over visiting Illinois State. So far this season, the Huskies are 0-2 in neutral-site matches and Friday's game will be the second between Dayton and Northern Illinois this season. The Huskies are led by Kaylee Martin with 3.16 kills/set and Anna Brereton is the team's most prolific passer with 4.07 digs/set. At the net, NIU's Meg Wolowica averages 0.93 blocks/set.

Scouting Western Kentucky
Western Kentucky (10-2) received votes in the most recent AVCA Top 25 national poll and is currently riding a six-match win streak. The Lady Toppers will square off against the 25th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in their first match of the day before facing the Flyers in the nightcap. WKU is led by Alyssa Cavanaugh with 4.12 kills/set and the duo of Rachel Anderson (1.17 blocks/set) and Amara Listenbee (1.15 blocks/set) are tough to get past at the net.

Series Stuff
Northern Illinois
Earlier this season, Dayton and Northern Illinois met in DeKalb at NIU's Holiday Inn Express Invitational. The Flyers claimed a 3-1 win over the Huskies, snapping a two-match losing streak in the series. Overall, Northern Illinois owns a 3-7 advantage over Dayton in a series that dates back to 1972

Series Stuff
Western Kentucky
Dayton and Western Kentucky have previously met seven times with the Lady Toppers holding a narrow 4-3 margin over the Flyers. The two last faced off on Sept. 5, 2015 at the neutral site with UD coming away with a straight-set sweep. The series dates back to 1984.

RPI Rankings
In the final NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) of 2016 posted Monday, Nov. 28, Dayton came in at 33 according to NCAA.com. Northern Illinois was ranked 51 and Western Kentucky came in at 16 at the end of last season. 2017's first RPI ranking will be released by the NCAA on Oct. 2.

Flyer Facts
• Tim Horsmon is in his ninth season overall, and fourth since 2007, as head coach of the Flyers in 2017. His record at Dayton is 222-61 and his career win-loss mark sits at 398-225 in 19 seasons as a head coach. Horsmon is the program's second-winningest coach behind only R. Elaine Dreidame who amassed 310 wins 1970-79.
• Over the last eight seasons (2009-2016), the Flyers have recorded a 106-9 (.923) mark in Atlantic 10 Conference play, including a perfect 14-0 mark in 2016, 2015 and 2012 and a 15-0 record in 2010. UD suffered only one conference loss in 2014, 2011 and 2009.
• Dayton has won the Atlantic 10 Regular Season title 13 times (2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2001, 1998). The Flyers have won the A-10 Championship title a league-record 11 times (2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003) and made their 12th NCAA appearance in program history in 2016.
• The Flyers finished the 2016 regular season with a 28-1 overall record and a 14-0 Atlantic 10 mark, finishing in first place in regular-season league play. 2016 was the program's 38th winning season.