DAYTON - The 18th-ranked University of Dayton volleyball team will close out the 2023 regular season at home this weekend by hosting VCU for two matches at Frericks Center. The Flyers and Rams will square off Friday at 7 p.m. followed by a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday and admission is free. Six departing team members will be recognized prior to Saturday's game.

ABOUT DAYTON
No. 18 Dayton (27-2, 16-0 A-10) enters the weekend enjoying a 22-match winning streak, the program's third longest, and the Flyers have won 64 of their last 66 sets played. Averaging 2.35 aces/set, the Flyers lead all of Division I in that statistical category paced by sophomore Taylor Russell with 0.54 (12th NCAA). Junior Lexie Almodovar tallies 4.38 kills/set (16th NCAA) and 5.04 points/set (17th NCAA) while junior Alyssa Miller sets 10.60 assists/set (17th NCAA). Defensively, senior Amelia Moore collects 1.27 blocks/set (39th NCAA) and sophomore Karissa Kaminski gets under 4.62 digs/set (44th NCAA).

SCOUTING VCU
VCU (16-10, 13-3 A-10) has won five-straight matches after dropping back-to-back 3-0 games at home against Loyola Chicago Oct. 20 & 21. Last weekend the Rams were in Washington, D.C., downing GW 3-2 and 3-0. VCU enjoys a balanced attack with three players at 235+ kills for the season led by Jasmine Knight with 260. Knight also carries the team's best hitting percentage (.346 - 5th A-10) while AnnaBelle Tomei sets 5.00 assists/set and leads the team from the service line with 0.33 aces/set. On defensive, Knight is also the team's blocking leader (1.26 blocks/set - 2nd A-10) and Anja Kujundzic passes 4.91 digs/set (2nd A-10).

SERIES STUFF
Dayton Leads, 17-8
The all-time series between Dayton and VCU dates back to 2010 and the Flyers have won seven of the last eight meetings between the two squads. UD and VCU squared off in the 2022 A-10 Championship on Nov. 18 of last season with Dayton claiming a 3-1 win.

LAST TIME OUT
Dayton closed out the road portion of its 2023 regular season with two straight-set wins at Rhode Island. On Saturday, Lexie Almodovar (12) and Taylor Russell (11) combined for 23 of the team's 43 kills and the Flyers tallied 11 aces. For her efforts over the weekend, Russell earned her third A-10 Player of the Week honor on Monday.

RPI RANKINGS
In the NCAA's most recent Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2023 season released Nov. 6, Dayton ranked 27th according to NCAA.com. VCU was ranked 139th.

AVCA/TARAFLEX TOP 25 COACHES POLL
In the Nov. 6 edition of the AVCA/TARAFLEX Division I Top 25 poll, Dayton was ranked 18th. This is the ninth-consecutive week the Flyers have appeared in the poll this season. Over the history of the AVCA WVB DI Coaches Top 25 Poll, Dayton has been ranked a total of 66 times and the program's highest ranking was No. 10 on Sept. 3, 2012.

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