DAYTON – The Wright State volleyball team opened its 2024 home campaign on Friday night inside a packed McLin Gymnasium against crosstown foe Dayton, with the Raiders battling through three tightly contested sets before falling to No. 22 Dayton.
 
Wright State (3-1) returns to action on Saturday night at 6 p.m. when it takes on UMBC as part of day two of the Tru by Hilton Dayton Beavercreek Invitational. The Raiders then wrap up the weekend on Sunday at 3 p.m. against Bowling Green.

MATCH INFORMATION
Saturday, September 7 - vs. UMBC - 6 p.m. - Live Stats
Sunday, September 8 - vs. Bowling Green - 3 p.m. - Live Stats
 
In front of 1,096 fans tucked into every corner of McLin, the Raiders and Dayton (3-0) played to set scores of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-23, with both sides finishing with an identical 46 kills and finishing within a handful of assists and digs as each other.
 
Mya Ayro continued her hot start to the season, finishing with 12 kills to pace the Raiders, while Taylor Bransfield and Reilly Zegunis each notched eight kills. Jenny Wessling collected three of the six total combined service aces as part of her stat line, while Lauren Yacobucci passed out 39 of Wright State's 41 assists. Katie Sowko finished the night with 10 digs, her second-straight contest with double-digit digs, to lead the Raider backline.
 
SET ONE
Dayton jumped out to an early advantage before the Raiders rolled off six straight points to take a 14-11 lead thanks to kills from Ayro, Wessling and Sam Ott. The visitors responded with four consecutive scores of their own as the teams traded points down the stretch of the set, with the Raiders pulling to within one at 21-20 after a Zegunis kill. Dayton tallied the next three points to get to set point, closing the set moments later at 25-21 off a Raider error.
 
SET TWO
Back-and-forth all set, neither side was able to gain an advantage, with Dayton scoring three straight points early to grab a 7-4 advantage before Wright State responded with four consecutive points behind a pair of Dayton errors, a Yacobucci kill and an Ott ace. From there, the margin was no larger than three until late, when the Raiders used a Bransfield kill to pull to 20-18, only to see Dayton rattle off the next five straight points to close the set.
 
SET THREE
Close in the early moments, the Raiders tallied five of seven points to take a 13-8 advantage thanks to a pair of kills each from Ott and Elena Dubuc. Dayton responded with eight of the next nine points and it was a battle from there, with the Raiders rallying to knot the score at 20- and 22-all late, only to see Dayton record three of the final four points to close the night.