UDPride Discussion Forums    
     

Go Back   UDPride Discussion Forums > LATEST ARTICLES > UDPride Articles

UDPride Articles Published content from your UDPride staff

» Log in
User Name:

Password:

Not a member yet?
Register Now!
» Advertisement
Comment
 
Article Tools Display Modes
Flyers Fall 3-0 to Michigan State in NCAA 2nd Round Play
Flyers Fall 3-0 to Michigan State in NCAA 2nd Round Play
Christopher Rieman
Published by Chris R
12-01-2007
Flyers Fall 3-0 to Michigan State in NCAA 2nd Round Play

DAYTON (OH) – The University of Dayton Flyers saw their incredible volleyball season end Saturday night in NCAA 2nd round action at the Frericks Center. Michigan State used dominating net play to secure the 3-0 sweep (26-30, 16-30, 21-30) and advance to the NCAA regional semifinals with a berth in the Sweet-16. Dayton ends the season at 33-2, good enough for second-fewest fewest losses of any DI team in the country in 2007 and the best season in program history.


Both teams traded blocks at the net with Lindsay Fletemier following hers up with a kill to give the Flyers an early 3-1 lead. Michigan State rallied to take their first lead at 6-5 but UD answered with a nifty dink at the net to tie it at 6-6. The Spartans followed it up with several hitting errors to give UD the 10-6 lead and the teams swapped a few more points until MSU called their first timeout of the match down 15-10. UD came out of the timeout a bit sluggish with hitting errors and illegal touches as MSU re-took the lead at 18-17, but the Flyers rallied back in front 20-18 as Spartan Head Coach Kathy George burned her second timeout. MSU re-grouped to take a 22-20 lead after a great save to keep the rally going, followed by a kill at the net that forced Tim Horsmon to called a timeout of his own. The conversation worked as UD jumped back in front 23-22 before a Spartan tied re-tied the match at 23.


A wicked serve by senior Jamie-Lee Richards made the score 25-24 as MSU used their third timeout of the game. MSU took the lead at 27-26 and a block at the net put them two points away from taking the first game as UD called their second timeout to rally back. Dayton elected to dink instead of going for the kill and it cost them a game point. The Spartans finished things off to win 30-26 and pocket the important first game of the match. UD’s .00 hitting percentage couldn’t keep pace with MSU’s .211. Three Spartans had at least four kills to spread the offense around. Jamie-Lee Richards led the Flyers with three kills on eight attempts at the net, a clear sign that MSU’s net defense was far more disrupting that undersized Lipscomb a day earlier.


Michigan State jumped out in front 9-5 in game two with more solid defense at the net. The Spartans took advantage of UD’s timid play after the Flyers tried to dink too many balls to the open court. Another block at the net gave MSU a 12-7 lead before UD stopped the bleeding with a point to the middle of the court. Lindsay Fletemier had trouble receiving service at the net however, and UD’s overall net play appeared a foot or two off as the game continued. UD called their first timeout of the game down 15-10. Lacking the same assertiveness that engineered MSU’s match lead, UD needed a rally on both offense and defense to re-discover their groove. Dayton looked equally flat and called a second timeout down 18-12. UD lost the first two points out of the timeout and never fully recovered as the game continued. A service ace made the score 23-13 as Horsmon called a third timeout to find answers, but the Spartans never looked back. They took game two 30-16 on the heels of dominating defense at the net and put the Flyers into a somewhat familiar but not impossible hole to climb out of.


Dayton continued to hit .000 as a team while MSU hit .288. Most glaringly, the Spartans earned 10 block assists at the net while Dayton had none. After two games, total team blocks favored MSU 13-2.


UD found themselves down steep deficits to fellow Big10 foe Illinois earlier in the year and managed to pull off the come-from-behind win and it would take similar heroics to stop MSU’s strong play and keep the season alive.


The Flyers jumped out to a 5-3 lead in game three before MSU tied things up at 5-5. The Spartans continued to hit far more consistently from behind the line and during extended rallies, they were able to manufacture points away from the net with well-paced kills to open spots in the Flyer defense. A big Fletemier block at the net – one of the few for the Flyers – cut the deficit to 10-9, but UD’s hitting percentage continued to suffer and the Spartans weren’t asked to work as hard as they should have defensively. The Spartans continued to hit well and built a 20-15 lead before a stoppage in play. Dayton never found a rhythm out of the timeout to steal game three as MSU went up 23-17. The Spartans closed things out as systematically as they started with the 30-21 win to take the match in three games.


Perhaps it wasn’t Dayton’s best performance of the year, and in some respects it might have been their worst. But credit goes to MSU’s imposing play at the net both offensively and defensively to take control of the match after game one and never look back. The storybook season for Tim Horsmon’s team officially comes to a close but as much as the ending is difficult to digest, there’s simply too much that went right in 2007 to feel short-changed. At 33-2, UD defended their A10 regular season crown and won the A10 tournament title in convincing fashion. The #15 overall seed in the tournament and nationally-ranked for most of the year, UD volleyball turned a significant corner in 2007 and the best volleyball is certainly to come – perhaps sooner than fans realize. UD graduates their most decorated senior class in program history but retains enough pieces and a terrific recruiting haul to challenge the bigs in 2008.
__________________

Hot shooting hides a multitude of sins.
Make everyone else's "one day" your "day one".
Article Tools
Comment

Article Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.1

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:00 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement System V2.6 By   Branden

Article powered by GARS 2.1.8m ©2005-2006

     
 
Copyright 1996-2012 UDPride.com. All Rights Reserved.