NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - For the seventh time during his 15-year tenure as University of Dayton volleyball head coach, Tim Horsmon has been named the Atlantic 10 Volleyball Coach of the Year and junior outside hitter Lexie Almodovar has been named the A-10 Volleyball Player of the Year as announced by the league office Thursday ahead of this weekend's 2023 A-10 Championship.

Almodovar becomes the 12th Flyer to earn A-10 Player of the Year accolades and this is the 17th time a member of the Dayton program has claimed the honor. The two major year-end awards were a part of the All-Conference Teams announcement that also included seven Flyer All-Conference nods.

Additionally, Loyola Chicago's Bree Borum, Davidson senior Bella Brady and Duquesne freshman Chloe Wilmot all claimed major awards.

Almodovar ranks 15th nationally with 4.45 kills per set and 15th with 5.12 points per set. An outside hitter from Noblesville, Ind., she has nine double-doubles on the season including a career-high 32 kills along with 15 digs against Marquette. A three-time 2023 A-10 Player of the Week, her 1,393 career kills ranks eighth all-time in program history. A three-time member of the A-10 All-Conference First Team and A-10 All-Championship Team, she was named 2022 AVCA Midwest All-Region. She was also named to the 2023 All-Conference First Team and the All-Academic Team.

Horsmon has 372 wins over 15 seasons at Dayton and is the program's winningest coach. That includes a perfect 18-0 regular season in 2023 and a 29-2 mark overall, ranking 19th in the latest AVCA poll. The 18-0 conference record is the program's second undefeated conference season in the last three years. A seven-time A-10 Coach of the Year, he has led the program to 10 A-10 regular season titles and 11 A-10 Championship titles.

Joining Almodovar on the All-Conference First Team are senior middle blocker Amelia Moore, the A-10 blocks leader (1.29 blocks/set - 29th NCAA) and sophomore outside hitter Taylor Russell, who leads the conference with 0.51 aces/set (17th NCAA). Junior setter Alyssa Miller was voted onto the All-Conference Second Team after leading the league with 10.62 assists/set (17th NCAA).

Three Flyers earned mention on the A-10 All-Academic Team in Almodovar, Moore and junior middle blocker Alayna Yates.

The major awards, All-Conference Teams and All-Rookie Team were voted on by the A-10 head volleyball coaches. The All-Academic team was selected by the volleyball media relations directors.

The 2023 Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship begins with two Friday matches between No. 4 Davidson and No. 5 Saint Louis in the first quarterfinal at 1:00 pm ET  and No. 3 VCU and No. 6 Fordham in the second quarterfinal at 3:30 pm ET. Saturday's semifinals are also at 1 and 3:30 pm ET and will feature No. 1 Dayton vs. the Davidson/SLU winner and No. 2 Loyola Chicago against the VCU/Fordham winner. The championship final will be played Sunday at noon ET. All five matches of the A-10 championship will be streamed live on ESPN+. For more information, please check out the A-10 Championship Central page.

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