Wright State University
11-20
Dayton
25-3
Volleyball Drops Four-Set Decision to Dayton
11/11/2009 12:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Wright State volleyball team dropped the first two sets on Wednesday evening against crosstown rival Dayton and played the next two close to the cuff, before falling 14-25, 8-25, 25-23, 23-25 against the Flyers. WSU outhit the Flyers in only one set - their winning third set - but battled through a tough fourth set that saw 18 ties and six lead changes.
The Green and Gold never led in the opening set, as Dayton marched out to an early 5-1 lead, but cut the deficit to only two points at 6-4 on a Shaunda Sandifer kill. UD would use a 10-2 run to take control of the frame on their way to a 25-14 win in the opener. Six different Raiders collected kills in the first frame, but none grabbed more than two, with Dayton claiming 19 kills as a team.
The Raiders amass only five kills in the second set and the Flyers (25-3) posted a hitting percentage of .577 to claim a 25-8 win in set two. Sandifer collected the first kill of the set, giving WSU a 1-0 lead, and again struck with a kill to knot the match at 2-2. Dayton would score 15 of the next 18 points to extend their lead to 17-5 and pull home the victory with five kills, a block and a pair of attacking error from WSU to close out set two.
In set three, WSU came out of the locker room on a mission. The Raiders grabbed the lead at 4-3 on a Becca Awaa kill and eventually led 11-8. The Flyers got back into the match with three straight points, tying it a 11-11, and the two teams teeter-tottered back and forth until Dayton grabbed a 23-21 lead. WSU would lock up the match with four straight points, including a Lexi Leonhard kill and a block from Sandifer and Jessica Woods. The Raiders were paced by four kills from Awaa and Leonhard, while holding UD to only a .053 hitting percentage in the 25-23 win.
The two teams would seesaw back and forth throughout the fourth set, with 18 ties and six lead changes. Neither team held a lead of more than two in the fourth and WSU led by two at 10-8 on a Leonhard kill. The Raiders and Flyers were knotted at 11-11 and the match stayed that way until Dayton grabbed a 23-21 edge. After a service error and an attack error from the Flyers knotted things at 23-23, the Flyers used a pair of blocks on the WSU attack to claim a 25-23 win in the fourth, taking the match 3-1.
Three different WSU players collected double-doubles in the match, paced by Leonhard with 11 kills and 11 digs. Woods posted ten kills - including six in the fourth set - and chipped in 13 digs, while setter Michelle Hammond tallied 24 assists and 10 digs. The Flyers were paced by 21 kills from Lindsay Fletemier, while WSU's Stefanie Shiramizu paced all players with 29 digs.
Wright State falls to 11-20 overall this season and will host their final match of the season on Saturday, November 14, versus Youngstown State. The Green and Gold will honor their four seniors, Becca Awaa, Lexi Leonhard and Tina Paunicka, in a ceremony before their 4:00 match with the Penguins in the McLin Gymnasium.
