UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With its 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 23-25, 29-27) win over American, the University of Dayton volleyball team advances to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament and will face the winner of Penn State vs. Siena. The Flyers extend their winning streak to 14 matches and will be making their sixth appearance in the round of 32. Junior Alaina Turner equaled her career high with 30 kills while juniorJanna Krafka passed a career-high 39 digs in the win for UD.
Also for the Flyers, freshman Jane Emmenecker set a career-high 61 assists to go with 12 digs for her 14th double-double of the season and junior Jill Loiars added 14 kills. Senior Rachel Jones got under 15 digs, junior Jenna Jendryk chipped in nine kills and freshman Amber Erhahon added eight kills on 12 attempts with no errors to hit for .667.
Dayton recorded 71 kills to American's 55 and passed 94 digs to American's 82. The Eagles won the battle of the block, 9-7, but the Flyers were more accurate attackers, hitting .239 to AU's .213.
American (26-7) scored the first two points of the match but a 3-0 spurt gave Dayton (30-5) the 3-2 lead in the early going. Back-to-back Flyer kills set the score at 8-6 in favor of UD and the advantage was two again, 12-10. Krafka served up an ace and Turner laid down her sixth kill of the frame as the Flyers went ahead, 17-12, and the Eagles signaled for timeout. American battled back to even the set at 18 points apiece and a kill from Turner set up game-point at 24-21. A Jendryk kill won the set for Dayton, 25-22.
The second set remained close early on with six ties but American put together a 3-0 run to pull ahead three, 11-8. The Flyers pulled even with the Eagles at 14-all after three consecutive kills from Turner and three-straight AU attacking errors pushed UD ahead, 17-15. A 6-0 Flyer run was capped by a Turner kill and the Eagles had to burn their second timeout trailing, 20-15. Another strong swing from Turner claimed the second frame for Dayton, 25-18, as the Flyers went up 2-0 in the match.
The Eagles rattled off four points to open the third set but the Flyers rallied to pull within one four times. An AU block pushed the Eagles up, 11-8, but UD took over the lead at 12-11. American again strung together four consecutive points, taking the 16-14 advantage but the set was tied again at 18-18. Trailing by three, 21-18, Loiars laid down a kill for Dayton and a service ace from Krafka pulled UD to within one, 23-22. American earned set point at 24-22 and stayed alive in the match with its 25-23 third-set win.
It was another fast start for American in the fourth set, jumping up 4-0 on Dayton. The Flyers answered with four-straight points to even the frame at four and the two were tied again at 6-6. The Eagles were able to pull ahead four, 13-9, but the set was once again even at 14-all and the Flyers pulled ahead on the next play with a kill from Turner. A solo block from Erhahon set the score at 18-16 in favor of Dayton and Turner followed with another kill for a three-point Flyer lead. American continued to battle, tying the frame at 20-20 and again at 23 points apiece. A Loiars kill set up UD's first match point, 24-23, but this set would go into extra points before a decision would be made. Eventually, Dayton came away with the 29-27 win in the fourth set and the 3-1 match victory.
American was led by Allison Cappellino with 15 kills, one of three Eagles in double-digit kills, and a team-high 21 digs. Monika Smidova also recorded a double-double for AU with 36 assists and 19 digs.
The Flyers return to action Saturday with a 7:30 match at Penn State's Rec Hall.