DAYTON - The University of Dayton volleyball team is set to head west to Iowa to take part in a three-match weekend hosted by Northern Iowa. Dayton will take on Northern Illinois, North Dakota and host UNI Sept. 15-16 at the Panthers' McLeod Center in Cedar Falls.

All three of Dayton's matches will be available to follow via live stats at UNIPanthers.com and video stream on ESPN+.

ABOUT DAYTON
Dayton (8-2) will be playing the team's first road game of the season on Friday after hosting four-team events the first three weekends of the season plus a single mid-week match against No. 2 Louisville on Sept. 6. Current Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Lexie Almodovar leads the league with 4.32 kills/set (22nd NCAA) and leads the nation with 177 total kills and 207.0 total points. On defense, Karissa Kaminski passes a team-high 4.29 digs/set and A-10 Defensive Player of the Week Amelia Moore collects a league-leading 1.24 blocks/set.

SERIES STUFF
Northern Illinois: NIU Leads, 7-5
Despite trailing the all-time series, Dayton has won the last three meetings between the Flyers and Huskies. The pair last squared off on Sept. 6, 2019 in Dayton as UD claimed the 3-0 win over NIU.

Northern Iowa: Series Tied, 1-1
The Flyers and Panthers last met on Sept. 3, 2010 at Minnesota's Diet Coke Classic as UD held on for a 3-2 win over UNI.

North Dakota: Series Tied, 1-1
North Dakota recorded a 3-2 win over Dayton in the last meeting between the two teams, Aug. 28, 2015 at the Iowa State Cyclone Invitational.

LAST TIME OUT
Dayton was a perfect 3-0 at the Dayton Invitational Sept. 8-9 with a 3-2 win over UIC followed by back-to-back straight-set sweeps of Wright State and Ball State. Junior Lexie Almodovar earned All-Tournament Team MVP honors after averaging 5.09 kills/set and 1.00 aces/set for the weekend.

RPI RANKINGS
In the NCAA's final Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2022 season, Dayton ranked 117th according to NCAA.com. NIU came in at 134th, UNI ranked 41st and North Dakota was ranked 210th.

AVCA/TARAFLEX TOP 25 COACHES POLL
In the Sept. 11 edition of the AVCA/TARAFLEX Division I Top 25 poll, Dayton was ranked 25th. This is the first top-25 ranking for the Flyers since earning a spot at 23 in the final regular-season poll of 2016. Over the history of the AVCA WVB DI Coaches Top 25 Poll, Dayton has been ranked a total of 57 times and the program's highest ranking was No. 10 on Sept. 3, 2012.

YOU GOTTA BE TOUGH
Dayton has played some pretty tough opponents over the first three weeks of this season, including matches against three top-25 ranked teams. The Flyers' slate is ranked as the 43rd-toughest in NCAA DI according to NCAA.com. Penn State has played the nation's toughest schedule to date.

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