Another tough and challenging weekend for the Dayton Volleyball program as they travel to Columbus to take on Miami (OH) for the second time this year and host Ohio State on Friday. Both of these teams will be looking to avenge their last meeting with the Flyers. On Saturday, UD will also compete against RV Illinois State who upset #14 Illinois last weekend. Challenges await, but head coach Tim Horsmon likes it that way.
“We are excited to complete with three quality teams this weekend,” Horsmon said. “While we are familiar with Miami and Ohio State, our staff and team will watch film on all of our opponents and prepare our scouting reports and game plan for each of them.”
Miami (OH) - Friday, September 20 @ 12:00 pm
Dayton swept Miami two-and-a-half weeks ago in Oxford. After dominating the first set 25-14, the Redhawks competed in the last two sets with UD prevailing 25-21 in both the second and third. Amelia Moore had a solid match scoring 15.5 points in the three-set match. She turned in a solid game both offensively (hitting .429) and putting up 4 blocks. She hit over .400 again last weekend against Kansas State, but it’s the team’s block that will need to continue to improve.
Horsmon commented, “Our communications as blockers and our defenders behind them, was much improved this (past) weekend, especially in our last two matches.”
Blocking is a “team sport”. Two players (and sometimes three) set a block and work in tandem to know where to set both the spot on the net and hand and arm placement. But the block also affects the other defenders on the court, especially the back row players. They set up in relationship to the block to take away the hitter’s angles and put themselves in position to dig an attack that gets by the block. Communication between the blockers and back row defenders is paramount.
Last week, SMU did a good job of taking away the Flyer’s offensive leader, Jamie Peterson. It emphasized the need to get our middle blockers and right side outside hitter more active in the offense early in matches, to open up the left side hitters.
“SMU is well coached and did a good job of getting us out of system and slowing our offense down,” explained Horsmon. “They played very scrappy defense and did not give us any easy opportunities. Unfortunately, we did not respond and make adjustments quickly enough.”
Miami and the rest of the opponents this weekend will have seen video of the SMU match. The Flyers will have to be prepared to see more of the defense SMU deployed to sweep the Flyers. However, I would still expect UD to sweep Miami. The goal should be to dominate more than just the first set. If we don't stay focused on this task, we could get caught in a dogfight by looking ahead.
tOSU - Friday, September 20 @ 8:00 pm
The team will tell you beating Ohio State in five sets at Frericks last year was a huge highlight of a successful season in 2018. I think it’s fair to say both tOSU and the Flyers were expecting to get off to a different start this season. UD sits at 5-5 and tOSU at 4-5 heading into the weekend. The Buckeyes have victories over Lehigh, VCU,
Duquesne and Bowling Green. The marquee victory is VCU, but not exactly a strong lineup of wins. They play Miami (OH) on Thursday night. Other than a 5-set loss to Texas Tech, none of their other losses have been close. We’ve played four 5-set matches, winning the last two. If this goes five again, I like our chances.
Ohio State brought in a very talented freshman class of six players this fall. The class was ranked #5 and it was anticipated this talent would return the Buckeyes to a high finish in the Big 10. That still might happen, but so far it’s been a slow start. All that said, this is a talent-loaded team that will have 11 players who remember first hand what happened last year and will be gunning for the Flyers. Ohio State has 8 Top 100 players and a total of 12 Top 250s. That is the second most we will face this season. Only Florida had more.
When tOSU set up this tournament, they intended to stack the schedule in their favor, and as host, that’s what you do. So they set up Miami (OH) on Thursday night and then scheduled Illinois State on Friday at 10 am with plenty of time to gear up for the real challenge, the Flyers at 8 pm. Who knew that Illinois State would be one tough match for everyone. So while UD plays Miami at noon on Friday, the Buckeyes will have to give Illinois St all the respect and attention a Receiving Votes foe deserves, especially one that knocked off #14 Illinois last weekend. Dayton can not overlook Miami, but the Flyers have a more favorable schedule heading into the Ohio St match.
I expect this match to be tough and probably go five sets, because that is usually how it plays out between these two teams. I do expect UD to win, but as has been the case against the toughest teams, it will come down to the serve and pass game.
“Our improved serve and pass against Kansas State allowed us to run our offense more efficiently,” Horsmon said in noting the key to what the team did to bounce back after the SMU loss. “And, our individual attackers made better decisions while attacking the ball.”
The final weekend before conference play will be a case of, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Miami gets a second shot at the Flyers. Ohio State gets a chance to avenge the Flyer loss last year, only this time it’s on their home court. Both UD and tOSU are looking to exit the weekend with a winning record. I expect neither to concede an inch. For the Flyers, the team will need to win the serve and pass game, continue to improve their block and to diversify the offense by getting more hitters going early and often. Prepare. Play. Learn. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Illinois St preview will be posted after Friday's matches.
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