No. 12 Marquette wins five-set thriller at Dayton

Box Score (PDF)

DAYTON, Ohio – Dayton fought off six match points in the fifth set before the No. 12 Marquette University women's volleyball team sealed another five-set victory in the Flyer Invitational on Saturday night at the Frericks Center.

"A gutsy performance after a really slow start yesterday," MU head coach Ryan Theis said. "I'm really impressed by the team's ability to battle back. This is one of the most hostile and toughest road environments we'll see this year against a really good team. Dayton's size made it really tough to get kills and they're really well coached."

The Golden Eagles (2-1) went up 14-8 in the fifth on consecutive service aces from junior outside hitter Jenna Reitsma before six-straight points from the Flyers tied things at 14. Outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton hammered home her 20th kill for the final point to help MU escape Dayton 2-1 on the weekend.

"A lot of good things happened today and there was good balance on offense," Theis said. "Aubrey was a leader throughout with the 20 kills. They put a really big blocker on Jenna at first and she chipped away as the match went on.

"I thought Hattie (Bray) was awfully physical in some really key moments and helped us get into a 3-1 lead. She had a couple more kills that jumped out in the fifth. The ball handling was good and I thought Yadhi (Anchante) played her best match of the year."

Marquette hit .173 in the victory and Reitsma and middle blocker Hattie Bray joined Hamilton in double figures with 11 kills. Reitsma and Hamilton each posted double-doubles, as did setter Yadhira Anchante, who contributed 46 assists and 20 digs.

Dayton outside hitter Lexie Almodovar led the Flyers with 32 kills and 15 digs on .311 hitting. The Flyers also went 2-1 on the weekend with wins over Western Kentucky on Friday night and Drake earlier on Saturday.

"To have a kid go for 32 against you, Lexie (Almodovar) is one hell of a player," Theis said. "To fight that off and get a win when somebody is getting 32 is tough."

All-Flyer Invitational Team
Lexie Almodovar - MVP - Dayton
Alyssa Miller - Dayton
Aubrey Hamilton - Marquette
Yadhira Anchante - Marquette
Paige Briggs - Western Kentucky
Taylor Oberpriller - Drake

NOTABLE:

Sophomore right-side Sienna Ifill played the final four sets and sealed MU's win in the third with her lone block of the night alongside Bray.
Hamilton reached 20 kills for the second time in an MU uniform. The native of Hartland, Wisconsin posted 25 kills against then-No. 15 Creighton in last year's BIG EAST tournament title bout.
Hamilton led MU with 41 kills this weekend (2.93 per set) on .218 hitting.
Bray hit .294 with 30 kills (2.14/set) and 10 blocks (0.71/set) in 14 frames this weekend.
The four teams in this weekend's event combined to go 108-30 last season (.783), including identical 29-4 marks from MU and WKU.
The Flyers are the projected preseason runner-up in the Atlantic 10 Conference and return first team all-league selections Lexie Almodovar and Amelia Moore.
The two programs have a history dating back to the 1978 campaign and UD holds a 20-8 edge in the all-time series. MU and UD were conference mates in the North Star, Midwest Collegiate and Great Midwest and played on a yearly basis until Marquette joined Conference USA in 1995. Prior to Saturday, the last six meetings had come on neutral sites and the previous two matchups were NCAA First Round matches, both in West Lafayette, Indiana.

UP NEXT: The Golden Eagles head to Lawrence, Kansas next weekend for a pair of matches against No. 16 Purdue and Kansas. MU will face the Boilermakers on Friday, Sept. 1 and Jayhawks on Saturday, Sept. 2.

Keep up with the Marquette University women's volleyball program through social media by following on X (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).