DAYTON - The University of Dayton volleyball team will open the home portion of its 2022 schedule by hosting the Dayton Invitational Sept. 9-10. The six-match event, which will be held at Frericks Center on UD's campus, will feature No. 25 Illinois, Missouri State, Villanova and host Dayton. Admission is free to all matches.

SCHEDULE
Friday
Villanova vs. Missouri State - 11 a.m.
Missouri State vs. Illinois - 5 p.m.
Dayton vs. Villanova - 7 p.m.

Saturday
Illinois vs. Villanova - 11 a.m.
Dayton vs. Missouri State - 1 p.m.
Dayton vs. Illinois - 7 p.m.

All matches will be available via live stats on Statbroadcast.com and all Dayton matches will be streamed via ESPN+. CLICK HERE for direct links.

ABOUT DAYTON
Dayton (3-3) is set to open the home portion of its 2022 schedule this weekend as it plays host to the Dayton Invitational Sept. 9-10. UD went 1-2 last weekend at the GT Invitational hosted by fifth-ranked Georgia Tech. Junior middle blocker Amelia Moore heads into the weekend ranked seventh in all of NCAA DI with 36 total blocks and she earned her second-consecutive conference weekly honor after being named A-10 Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

SCOUTING No. 25 ILLINOIS
Illinois (1-3) has battled through a tough early-season schedule including losses to two top-15 teams in Georgia Tech and Washington and picked up a 3-1 win over Ole Miss on the Rebels' home court. The Fighting Illini's offense is led by Raina Terry with 3.43 kills/set and Rylee Hinton is the squad's top blocker with 1.45 blocks/set.

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State (1-5) went 0-3 at this past weekend's Mizzou Invitational, dropping all three matches in straight sets. The Bears' lone win of the season was against Tennessee Tech, 3-1, at home to open the year. Manuela Ibarguen is MSU's leading attacker with 3.65 kills/set and Morgan Sprague is the team's primary setter with 7.57 assists/set while serving up 0.39 aces/set.

SCOUTING VILLANOVA
Villanova (3-3) is coming off a 2-1 weekend at home at the Villanova Classic, claiming wins over Lafayette College and New Hampshire. Reigning Big East Offensive Player of the Week Rose Crist keys the Wildcat offense with 3.39 kills/set while Taryn Whittingham gets under a team-best 3.54 digs/set.

SERIES STUFF
Illinois: Illinois Leads, 7-5. The Flyers and Fighting Illini first squared off in 1973 and most recently in 2012. Dayton hosted Illinois Aug. 24, 2012 and the Flyers picked up the straight-set win, snapping a three-match winning streak for the Illini.

Missouri State: Dayton Leads, 3-1. In the last meeting between the two, UD claimed a 3-0 win in Springfield, Missouri, on Sept. 14, 2019. The Bears downed the Flyers, 3-1, in their last meeting in Dayton on Aug. 31, 2013.

Villanova: Dayton Leads, 1-0. The only meeting between Dayton and Villanova took place Dec. 4, 2015 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Flyers took down the Wildcats, 3-1, at Penn State.

HAUSFELD COURT
Former Flyer Kacie Hausfeld passed away tragically in an airplane crash during her time as a Dayton Flyer. In her memory, her family made a substantial contribution to the Dayton volleyball program. That donation enabled the program to renovate Frericks Center, adding a new public address and sound system, new seating on the event level, new scoreboards and video boards and the playing surface was named "Hausfeld Court" among many other improvements to the facility.

FOLLOW #UDVB
Follow the Flyers on Twitter: @DaytonVB, Facebook: University of Dayton Volleyball Page and Instagram: udaytonvb