Nov. 20, 2004

PITTSBURGH - The top-seed University of Dayton volleyball team won its second straight Atlantic 10 Title with a 3-1 (30-20, 30-24, 22-30, 30-28) victory over Xavier at the A.J. Palumbo Center on Saturday.

The Flyers (23-7) will advance to the NCAA Division I Tournament for the second time in school history, which begins Dec. 2-4 at campus sites, after becoming the first school since Temple (1997-99)to win consecutive A-10 Crowns.

UD Head Coach Tim Horsmon won his sixth conference tournament in six seasons as a collegiate head coach and gives the credit for the victory to the team's preparedness.

"We executed our game plan well and played hard tonight," Horsmon said. "I give a lot of credit to our seniors who dug us out of a big hole and our coaches for getting us ready to play against a tough Xavier team."

The Flyers were led by senior Christy Utnage (Indianapolis, IN) who was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after tallying 18 kills and 19 digs in the Championship Match for her 19th double-double of the season.

She was joined on the All-Championship team by sophomore Faye Barhorst (Fort Loramie, OH) and freshman Robynne Green (Palatine, IL).

Barhorst matched Utnage with 18 kills while hitting .395 and posting a match-high seven blocks for the Flyers.

In match that was even in nearly every statistical category, Dayton's defense prevailed as the Flyers had four players reach double-digits in digs and 80 overall to the Musketeers' 70.

Freshman libero Adrienne Green (Palatine, IL) led UD with 20 digs followed by Utnage's 19, 14 by freshman Courtney Pettke (Milwaukee, WI) and 13 by senior Shanna Pressler (Archbold, OH).

After Dayton built up early leads and cruised to win in the first two games, Xavier rebounded to take game three in convincing fashion 30-22.

The Musketeers appeared to have the fourth game at hand as well, opening with a 7-0 run and building a 17-7 advantage before the Flyers could mount a comeback.

UD would use a 10-1 run to pull within a point at 17-18 before XU responded with a kills by Kate Duchek. Barhorst answered for UD and the Flyers followed with a service ace courtesy of Pressler to knot the score at 19-all.

After Dayton took a 21-19 lead, XU rattled off five consecutive points to post a 24-21 lead on the strength of a service ace by Jordan Brightwell.

The Flyers once again showed their resilience and tied the score at 25-25 with a service ace by junior setter Nicole Schott (Roscoe, IL).

The teams would trade the next five points before Barhorst ripped a kill down the middle to knot the score for the final time at 28-all.

Pressler followed with a kill of her own to give the Flyers Championship Point for the second consecutive season.

Barhorst closed out the match with her 44th solo block of the season as UD claimed its second Atlantic 10 Title in school history.

"Our program has evolved to the point where we expect to win every year and to reach your goal is always a great feeling," Horsmon said. "These girls played to win tonight and deserve to enjoy their accomplishment."