DAYTON (OH) — Last weekend UD played Xavier at the Frerick’s Center for first place. If UD lost they would be tied for first with Xavier owning the tiebreaker. If UD won they would have sole possession of first place.

This was the best crowd in two years and I first have to say KUDOS to the Red Scare, the pep band and other fans in attendance. It was a great atmosphere for a college volleyball match.

For quite a few fans the night began at 6:30pm when Kelly Sheffield hosted a chalk talk which had great attendance. Kelly discussed how the Flyers would attempt attacking Xavier and gave us several things to watch for. One thing that Kelly was concerned about was the speed of xavier’s offense and that he had two right side blockers who had never played against Xavier. If you have never attended a chalk talk I highly recommend it.

In set 1 there were two things that became very obvious. The first one was that Xavier came ready to play. The second one was that they were determined to take away Megan Campbell’s slide. When Megan went to the pole there were two blockers with her.

Xavier played really well in set 1. I don’t think the Flyers played that well, they seemed to give Xavier way too many free balls to hit. These observations show up in the stats. Xavier outhit UD in set 1 .341 to .244. Xavier also won the sideout battle 64% to 51%. Xavier outplayed UD in set one and clearly deserved to win it by the score of 25 – 20.

The Red Scare did not let up when the second set began and Kelly mentioned how the crowd fired them up to start set 2. The Flyers played much better in set 2. As I watched set 2 unfold I felt that UD was the better team if they executed well. When the Flyers won set 2 by the score of 25-18 I told the people with me “I don’t see the Flyers losing if they continue to pass the ball like that”. I was really impressed with how Paige, Yvonne and Rachel passed the ball which makes it so much easier to keep the blockers guessing. UD outhit Xavier .317 to .235 and won the sideout battle 77% to 56%.

The Flyers dominated the 3rd and 4th sets winning by scores of 25 – 14 and 25 – 16. They won the sideout battle 80% to 45% and 81% to 51%.
Even though Xavier appeared determined to take Megan Campbell out of the match she hit .364 with 10 kills in 22 attempts. Shayne Brown hit .429 while getting 11 kills in only 21 attempts. Rachel Krabacher hit .276 while getting 25 kills in 58 attempts. Coach Sheffield mentioned Yvonne Marten after the match. Yvonne had four kills in 32 attempts which sounds like she strugged. As Kelly pointed out Yvonne pass the ball reallly well. Xavier has a bunch of power servers and this was never a problem for the Flyers.

On Tuesday of this week the Flyers played Wright State in another rivalry game and easily beat the Raiders by the scores of 25-13, 25-13 and 25-12. UD outhit WSU .451 to .095 for the match. In the sideout battle UD won 72% to 36% percentage. Doubling up your opponents sideout percentage shows total domination.

This weekend the Flyers play Rhode Island and Fordham. These are both matches the Flyers should win if they play well. I didn’t bother Kelly with questions this week because of the Tuesday WSU match but I plan on having comments next week.