The Flyers finished their regular season last week with a 3-0 victory over Notre Dame by the scores of 31-29, 25-20 and 25-19. In set one UD won the sideout percentage battle by 63% to 60% which shows how close the set was. In the second set UD had an advantage of 50% to 40% and in set three UD had an advantage of 60% to 45%. It was a good workmanlike victory over a team hungry for a win.

The Flyers took a charter flight yesterday to College Station Texas where they will be playing Kentucky in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament. Kentucky’s RPI is #11 so they just missed being a seeded team. Here is what Kelly had to say about Kentucky:

“By far the best back court defensive team we will have played all year. Their little people are really good. They have great size at the net and are really balanced offensively. The team is fired up for this match-up”.

The team appears to be peaking after the loss to Xavier. In particular I believe that Yvonne is hitting the ball with more power than ever before so I asked Kelly for his thoughts on the team.

“Big-time competition brings out the best in these guys. Practices are shorter, we’ve cut back on the lifting, players know what we are trying to do, and the team is confident. You put all of that together and hopefully that equals playing your best ball – which we are. Great observation on Yvonne, she is absolutely playing the best ball of her career right now, but there’s a few others that I think are also. We are playing great. There’s not too many people that are going to give us a chance to win even one match, but I will tell you this, this team absolutely believes in itself unlike any team I’ve ever been around. They are ready to battle. I’m telling you, this could get fun!! ;-)”

This is a tough matchup but it is also a winnable match. If the Flyers win on Thursday they would probably face #16 seed Texas A&M Saturday in the 2nd round. Let’s hope the team is playing again next weekend in their first trip to the Sweet Sixteen!