Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
Dayton
Xavier Suffers First A-10 Loss to Dayton
09.29.06 | Volleyball
Sept. 29, 2006
DAYTON, Ohio - In front of a record crowd at the Frericks Center, Xavier could not come away with a win against rival Dayton in Atlantic 10 action on Friday evening. The loss ends XU's six-match winning streak and also ends Danielle Skrajewski's streak of six straight matches with a double double. The loss drops the Musketeers to 9-8 on the season and 2-1 in A-10 play, while Dayton improves to 12-5 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
In a game that saw neither team take a lead of more than two points over the first half of the game, both teams would make its run late. With the score at 16-15 in favor of Xavier, the Musketeers used three straight kills by Danielle Skrajewski to take its largest lead of the game at 19-15. However, the Flyers would respond with a huge presence at the net and restore parity at 19-19 before charging out to the lead after four straight UD blocks. In fact, Dayton would used those blocks to put together an 8-0 run to take its largest lead of the game at 23-19. Overall, the game would see four ties and three lead changes with the Flyers emerging on top after the first frame. Skrajewski finished with nine kills on the game.
The second game found the Flyers take the momentum from the game one win and carry it over. Dayton would take the first three points but found XU chip away to take the lead at 5-4 on a Skrajewski kill. After UD claimed the next point to tie the score at 5-5, the Flyers would take the lead for good and post an insurmountable run to put the game out of reach. Dayton notched a 10-1 run before continuing to push to a 15-2 run and leave the score at 20-7 in favor of the home team. At the 16-7 mark, Xavier was hitting -.105 with five hitting errors and only three kills on 19 swings. XU would end the match hitting .000 with 10 errors and only 10 kills on 41 swings.
The final game saw Dayton pull away late and take the game and match. After a short Xavier surge to cut the UD lead to 21-17, the Flyers would score nine of the last 11 points of the game. The Musketeers again were held to a .000 hitting percentage on the game and ended with 10 kills on 35 attempts, while committing 10 errors.
Skrajewski again led the way in the loss as the senior posted 13 kills and added six digs. The six digs ends her streak of six straight matches with a double double. Freshman Lauren Kaminsky would earn seven kills and junior Jenni Horvath would round out the top three with six kill on the match.
The record crowd of 1,341 was the largest crowd to watch an A-10 game so far this season.
The Musketeers will return to action a week from tonight as XU will welcome La Salle to Cintas Center for the first home contest in over a month. Game time is set for 7:00 pm and will mark Xavier's first home weekend in A-10 play. The Blue and White will take on Temple on Saturday evening at 7:00 pm. XU holds a 24-0 advantage in the all-time series against the Explorers and the Owls own a slim 15-14 edge over the Musketeers in the series.
