This weekend the Flyers head to the Sunshine State for the final three matches of their pre-conference schedule. Sitting at 7-1 and ranked for the fourth week in a row at #24, the season so far has to be considered a huge success. There is the long conference grind ahead, but a quick trip to the beaches of Fort Meyers, Florida to take on two opponents over three matches will be a nice way to right the ship after the loss to Marquette.

First up Friday morning will be the University of South Florida. Coach Balice noted they have hitters with great arm speed and give you a stiff defensive challenge.

“This team (USF) reminds me of Wright State in that they scrap and have the ability to kill balls and extend rallies,” He said. “They have beaten Florida and Ohio State.”

Currently the Bulls sit at 4-4, but have played some great matches this season. The first weekend they lost to then-ranked #20 Florida State and #25 Georgia. The next weekend they traveled to Gainesville where they beat then-ranked #10 Florida and Ohio State, both in 5 sets. These early season matches will be all the experience they need to possibly knockoff the Flyers if we don’t come to play. There will be live stats for this match.

USF and host Florida Gulf Coast University will have already played their match on Thursday night before playing UD.

Later Friday night we play our second match of the day at 7 pm against FGCU. This match will be streamed at 7 pm with live stats. FGCU sits at 7-2 before the Thursday USF match.

Balice noted, “Five of FGCU’s nine matches have gone five sets. Statistically, this team ranks in the top 40 in the nation in blocks per set (2.62) and top 50 in opponent hitting percentage (.158).”

Their record in the five-set matches is 3-2 with the two losses to a very good University of Illinois Chicago team and a tough loss on the road at Ole Miss this past week.

As of Wednesday afternoon, here is a listing of figgiestat rpi for teams of interest:

4 Illinois

26 Dayton

31 Mississippi

41 Ill-Chicago

56 Bowling Green

57 FGCU

58 Marquette

63 WSU

67 UNI

116 USF

155 GW – the next highest A10 rpi after UD

We play USF for a second time this trip on Saturday at 1 pm. There will be live stats for that match.

Both of these programs are strong rpi resume-building competition with current rpis well above the other A10 teams. Both will come ready to try to knockoff the Flyers. We will need to be ready to play clean, low-error ball. Balice gave a little insight into how the team is preparing for the trip and their first match on Friday.

“We will practice Thursday morning at Frericks and depart campus at 11:30 am for the airport,” he stated.  “We’ll arrive in Fort Myers early that evening and do our film and scout work for South Florida. The players will also have some down time for treatment with our athletic trainer as well as time to do any academic work.”

One of the great things about being a DI athlete is when the team travels, there are trips that afford some educational and cultural experiences. In the past the volleyball team has attended Broadway shows in NYC, toured monuments in DC, etc. Time is tight this trip according to Balice.

“Unfortunately, we are only able to build in a nice sit down dinner at a restaurant on or close to the water this trip. If we had some more buffer time we would definitely do some more sightseeing” he explained. “Both teams will pose interesting challenges and will be a handful, especially with the fast turnaround of matches on Friday.”

So for the second weekend in a row, the Flyers have the most difficult schedule of the three teams in this tournament. Last year at UNI, Head Coach Tim Horsmon told me he loves living in Dayton, but will seek out a coastal community to live in once he retires. Scheduling a dinner close to the water doesn’t surprise me.

On the court, the team will have to limit the number of points we give an opponent on errors. We have not been a high-error team this season. If we can navigate this part of our game, we should be on a 3-match win streak headed into conference play. I didn’t actually confirm this, but I’m confident winning volleyball matches is also on Horsmon’s Top 5 things he likes best. This trip might be short on beach time, but it doesn’t have to be short on wins and stuffing our rpi before conference play begins.