Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
Dayton
Five-Game Match Again Unkind for Xavier
10.27.05 | Volleyball
Oct. 27, 2005
DAYTON, Ohio - For the second time this season, Xavier took Dayton down to the wire only to come up short. The Musketeers lost all three games by only two points as UD took the match in five games by scores of 31-29, 35-33, 23-30, 27-30 and 15-13. XU falls to 15-10 on the season and now stands at 7-3 in the Atlantic 10 standings. Dayton is now 16-9 overall and 9-1 in conference play.
The opening game set the pace for the rest of the match as in the previous meetings it came down to the last few points. Danielle Skrajewski notched her fifth kill of the game to knot the score at 28-28 but XU could not get control of the lead as UD claimed opening stanza. The Flyers jumped out to the early 11-6 advantage before Xavier stormed back on a 5-0 run to restore parity at 11-11. The Musketeers would take their first lead since the 1-0 mark on an ace by Astyn Bjorklund to make it 21-20, but the 11 ties and three lead changes would favor the home team in the end. Senior Jordan Brightwell would grab high honors in the game with nine digs and Jill Quayle finished with six kills.
Game two found another back and forth battle with 21 ties and eight lead changes involved. After UD jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, Xavier rallied back to create the first tie of the game at 10-10 after a kill by Carley Horvath. After the score was tied at 24-24, each team would push its lead to two only once before Dayton found a way to take the second game. Each team was on fire with each hitting over .330 in the game. The Musketeers held the advantage .346 to .333 but UD would pound out two more kills to hold the 26-24 advantage. Bjorklund had eight kills in the game, while fellow middle hitter Quayle posted seven of her own.
The slugfest continued in the third stanza but found the blue and white come out on top in the end. The XU frontline caused nine Flyer attack errors and posted a match-high .372 hitting percentage en route to the victory. With the score tied at 3-3, a block by Bjorklund and Carley Horvath gave the Musketeers the lead for good. Xavier would stretch its lead to seven points at the 29-22 mark after Skrajewski, Quayle and Horvath assisted on the blocking efforts. Bjorklund posted five kills in the contest, while seniors Kate Duchek and Horvath each had four. The Musketeers also notched 4.5 blocks in the game.
Both teams cooled off a little in the fourth game with XU hitting only .200, while the Flyers posted a mere .094 attack percentage. Xavier trailed early but would gain the lead back before relinquishing it back to UD. A Duchek kill would tie the game at 14-14 before a Dayton attack error put the Musketeers up for good at 15-14. The Flyers would cut the lead to just two at 27-25 after a quick 4-0 run but XU would respond with a quick two points to put the game out of reach. Skrajewski would pace the Musketeer attack with three kills and seven digs in the game.
The deciding game started off on the wrong side for Xavier as UD posted a quick 5-2 advantage before an XU timeout. XU would rally back after a 4-0 run to tied the score at 7-7 after a Horvath kill. On the next point, a Flyer net violation would give Xavier its first lead of the game and make the score 8-7. Four ties and just one lead changes later would find the home team narrowly edge XU in the end.
Skrajewski continued to play well for Xavier as the junior posted her seventh straight double-double and ended the evening with 17 kills and 15 digs to go along with six block assists. Classmate Bjorklund finished with a team-high 20 kills, a .576 hitting percentage, six digs and five block assists. Quayle was another of the five Musketeers in double figure kills as the sophomore finished with a career-high 16, a .433 attack percentage and seven total blocks. Four more players notched double-digit digs with Brightwell leading the way. The senior tallied 24 and also recorded a kill in the match. Freshman Jenn Welsh had 15 digs and tied her career-high with 65 assists on the night. Horvath also notched a double-double as the senior had 10 kills and 10 digs.
XU is now 0-4 in matches that go the distance, with two of those loses coming at the hands of the Flyers. The Musketeers are now 4-9 when losing the opening game and 3-9 when getting outhit by the opposition.
Xavier will return to action this Saturday as the Musketeers play host to Rhode Island. The action is set to get underway at 7:00 pm at Cintas Center. XU will honor its four seniors prior to the match with Senior Night festivities getting underway at 6:50 pm. Catch all of the live action on Gametracker at www.GOXAVIER.com.
