DAVIDSON, N.C. – Top-seeded Dayton will make its 21st appearance in the Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship match after a 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-15, 27-25) win over No. 5 Saint Louis Saturday in the A-10 semifinals at Belk Arena.
 
The Flyers (30-2) will make their 10^th straight appearance in the title tilt, where they will face either defending champion Loyola Chicago or third-seeded VCU at noon at Belk Arena. The winner of the A-10 Championship earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Dayton secured the semifinal win with a late rally in the fourth set. Leading the match 2-1, UD fell behind early in the set and trailed most of the game. Down 23-19 after an ace from SLU’s Kate Aupperle, the Flyers got kills from Amelia Moore, Taylor Russell and Lexie Almodovar to pull within one point.  The teams swapped points over the next four rallies before Russell, who led all players with 20 kills, tied it at 25. Almodovar, the A-10 Player of the Year, then closed out the rally and match win with back-to-back kills. She finished with 18 kills and a team-high 22 digs for a double-double.
 
Alyssa Miller had a match-high 53 assists for Dayton, which has won four of the last five titles and seven of the last nine, is ranked 18^th nationally and in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Flyers won sets two and three by double-digit margins, using a six-point run early in set two to build a lead. That run included four straight blocks from Alayna Yates, who lead all defensive players with eight total blocks. Set three had smaller runs, but UD against built an early lead it didn’t relinquish, and four straight kills ended the set, including the final two from Amelia Moore who hit .591 and had 14 kills.
 
Saint Louis (16-16) had five straight points early in the first set, thanks to blocks from Jillian Mattingly and Alyssa Miller. Both teams battled back and forth, but trailing 22-20, the Billikens rolled off four straight points, with a pair of blocks from Trinity Luckett, and a kill by Delaney Rice. After Dayton got a point back, Kayla Richardson finished off the SLU set one win with a kill.
 
Richardson had 16 kills to lead Saint Louis and Emily Henken tallied 15. Carlie Rodgers tallied 23 digs and Luckett’s three blocks were a team best.