DAYTON – The Wright State volleyball team opened its 2023 home schedule on Thursday night with a three-set sweep of Butler as part of the Tru by Hilton Dayton Beavercreek Invitational inside McLin Gymnasium.
The Raiders will meet Cincinnati at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon to wrap up their weekend, while Butler and Cincinnati will face each other in a neutral matchup Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. Wright State's Saturday match is expected to be streamed on ESPN+.
Please note: the Air Force Marathon and its activities are taking place in and around the Nutter Center/McLin Gymnasium this weekend. Please allow yourself extra time for traffic navigation, as some roads may be closed depending on the day. Volleyball fans are reminded to park in Lot 9 and enter as usual at Gate 9.
On Thursday, Wright State (4-6) jumped out of the gates and never looked back, hitting .387 as a group in the opening set on the way to a .289 overall hitting percentage while the Raiders forced Butler (5-5) into just a .117 hitting percentage for the night.
Three Raiders –
Megan Alders,
Callie Martin and
Sam Ott – each had 10 kills to pace the offense, while
Aaliyah Byers just missed out on the double-digit fun with nine kills of her own. Byers did add seven blocks as Wright State finished with an 11-4 advantage in total blocks.
Katie Meyer was efficient, distributing 40 of the Raiders' 45 assists on the night as six different players all had multiple kills, and
Jenny Wessling tallied a match-best 23 digs.
SET ONE
Wright State jumped ahead early with five of the first seven points before Butler pulled back into the set and the teams were eventually tied at 15-all. Moments later, the Raiders rolled off five straight points behind kills from Byers and Martin as part of a larger 8-1 run to close the set, concluding with back-to-back Butler errors.
SET TWO
The Raiders again jumped out to an early lead, this time with six of the first eight points, before the set followed a similar script. Up a point, the Raiders scored the next four points thanks kills from Byers and Meyer to take a 21-16 advantage. Butler held off three-straight Raider set point opportunities to pull to within two before a service error gave Wright State the set win.
SET THREE
Seven of the first nine points went to Wright State and the Raiders never looked back in the final set, extending the advantage to 10-4 and later 15-8 before Butler pulled itself into the set to be down two at 18-16. From there, the Raiders scored seven of the final 10 points, including four straight points behind kills from Alders and Zegunis and a pair of service aces from Martin. Up five with set and match point, Ott closed the night with a final kill.
