Volleyball tops No. 24 Dayton, 3-1

Box Score (PDF)

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky – The Marquette University women's volleyball team handed No. 24 Dayton its first loss of the season, 26-28, 25-21, 25-20, 25-19, on Saturday afternoon in the Hyatt Place Invitational at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Senior outside hitter Jenna Reitsma led the Golden Eagles (3-3) with 17 kills, 11 digs and three service aces, while Aubrey Hamilton and Hattie Bray each reached double digit kills with 14 and 10, respectively. MU combined for 12 team blocks and limited the Flyers (7-1), who entered the weekend fifth nationally with a .322 hitting percentage (243-62-562), to a mark of .168 (52-26-155).

Dayton pulled out a tight opening set in extras, 28-26, after MU responded to fight off four set points. Reitsma landed four kills in the first and added a pair of aces.

Hamilton posted five kills in the 25-21 second set win and added three blocks, while MU middle blocker Carsen Murray had five denials.

MU sophomore libero Molly Berezowitz posted both of her service aces in a 25-20 third set win and each came at big moments. Her first gave MU a 14-8 lead to force a Dayton timeout, and her final ace put MU at set point, 24-18.

The Golden Eagles fell down early in the fourth set, but closed the frame and the match on a 9-1 run after trailing 18-16. MU hit a match-high .297 in the final set.

Liana Sarkissian and Lexie Almodovar led UD with 14 kills apiece.

NOTABLE:

The win is MU's first over a ranked opponent since Oct. 6, 2023 against then-No. 15 Creighton at the Al McGuire Center.
MU's last win against a ranked non-conference foe was a sweep of then-No. 13 Georgia Tech in the NCAA Second Round at the Al McGuire Center. It's last win over a non-conference opponent in a road or neutral site match was Aug. 26, 2022 at then-No. 11 Kentucky.
The Flyers entered the match at 7-0 this season and had swept five of their last six matches. UD defeated Illinois, 3-1, on Friday afternoon and swept WKU on Friday evening.
MU forced UD outside hitter Lexie Almodovar into 12 hitting errors on Saturday. Almodovar, who hit a combined, .042 (14-12-48) is the reigning Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year.
MU and UD have a long and storied history dating back to the 1978 campaign, which has included a pair of NCAA tournament match-ups in 2019 and 2021 at Purdue. The two programs 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.

UP NEXT: MU continues its season-long five-match road swing next week against No. 8 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center on Tuesday, Sept. 17 in Madison in addition to weekend games in Pittsburgh against East Carolina and No. 1 Pitt.

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).