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 Jamie-Lee Richards, Dayton |
Nov. 17, 2007
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Dayton Flyers and Xavier Musketeers advanced to the finals of the 2007 Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship by virtue of winning their respective semifinal matches Saturday night at Halton Arena on the campus of Charlotte. These were the top two seeds entering the tournament this weekend, with the Flyers' only tally in the loss column coming at the hands of Xavier in the regular season. The pair will meet at 1:00pm for the league title.
After getting behind 2-0 to Saint Louis, Xavier rallied to win the last three (24-30, 32-34, 30-26, 30-23, 15-7) in the tournament's most exciting match to date. Nine players tallied double-digit kills and digs, four players reaching double figures in both categories. Many points were long rallies, as the teams accumulated a combined 193 digs, 157 kills, 146 assists and 23 blocks on the evening.
Game one featured 10 ties and three lead changes. Saint Louis (23-7) managed only a four-point lead three times late in the opening game. Game two saw eleven ties and went extra points as neither team could gain an advantage until a late SLU push got the Billikens three straight points to end the game.
After the intermission, 13 ties were forced in the third game, but Xavier (23-8) put together a three-point run and got the four-point margin at 29-25 to coast to its first win of the match. The Musketeers powered out to a 7-2 margin in game four to set the tone for the match's most lopsided inning of seven points, which was the largest lead for either team until the final point scored in game five.
"Obviously, it was a great match but I'm disappointed to be on the losing end of it," said Saint Louis coach Anne Kordes. "I've got to give Xavier tons of credit because they picked up their defense after game two as well as their serve receive. It really came down to a ball control match. The Coach of the Year Award (to Xavier's Floyd Deaton) was well deserved."
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The pair played to a 6-all tie in the final game, but Saint Louis could only manage one more point as Xavier won the last six points to close out the victory.
"This was a heck of a volleyball match," said Xavier's Deaton. "If you like volleyball, this was a great match to see. We never gave up. The girls really had a fire lit under them and played hard."
Xavier was paced by Hillary Otte's 20 kills. She was knocked in the jaw by the leg of a teammate while chasing a loose ball early in game two, but came back a few points later and put together a gutsy performance. Kelly Ruth registered 24 digs, with teammate Jenni Horvath logging 20 digs. XU's pair of setters distributed the ball around the offense. Claire Paszkiewicz had 35, while Jenn Welsh recorded 30.
Saint Louis' Sammi McCloud led all players with 21 kills, while teammate Whitney Roth amassed 64 assists. Whitney Behrens led SLU with 20 digs and Lauren Christman had nine blocks.
Earlier in the day, top-seeded and 16th ranked Dayton needed four games to dispatch East Division champion Temple (30-24, 30-26, 27-30, 30-14). Dayton improves to 29-1 overall, with the nation's highest win percentage. Temple finishes its season 15-18.
Game one saw the Flyers build a nine-point margin at 23-14. Dayton's Jamie-Lee Richards had six of her match-high 17 kills in the second frame.
The Flyers and Owls played game two close, with Dayton getting one five-point lead, but the match was tied at 20 and 21. At the 21-all mark, Erin Schroeder served for five straight points, including one of Dayton's nine aces in the match, to pull ahead and post the game-two win.
Temple made a stand in game three, making only one error to hit an attack percentage of .361 in the frame. Dayton took small leads to the 8-7 mark, but Temple played near flawless volleyball to extend a lead to 21-14. The Flyers made a late run, but Temple held them off thanks to nine Flyers errors in the game.
"We're excited to get back to the finals," said Flyers coach Tim Horsmon. "We didn't play particularly strong tonight, but we're hoping to play stronger tomorrow and looking forward to facing Xavier on Sunday."
The Flyers came out aggressively in the final game, starting 10-3 and never letting up to the 16-point win. Dayton put together runs of eight and six points in the deciding game.
"I think Dayton came out in game four and played really aggressively," said Temple head coach Bob Bertucci. "They just let it all out and I don't think we were prepared for that."
