Nov. 21, 2009

DAYTON, Ohio - 2009 Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions Dayton and #20 Saint Louis will meet for the A-10 Tournament Title on Sunday afternoon after wins in their respective Semifinal matches on Saturday evening. The two teams will be meeting in the A-10 Finals for the third time in the past four seasons.

Host UD got past Temple, 3-1 (16-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-16) while SLU swept Xavier, 3-0 (25-21, 25-16) at the Frericks Center on the campus of the University of Dayton.

Dayton earned its seventh straight berth in the A-10 Finals and eighth appearance overall. The Flyers have won the A-10 Tournament Title four times since 2003 (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007).

Saint Louis which entered the Atlantic 10 Conference at the beginning of the 2006 season, will be making its third appearance in the A-10 Finals. The Billkens won the A-10 Tournament the last time it was held at the Frericks Center in 2006 as well as last season (2008).

Sunday's match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET and will be televised live nationally on CBS College Sports. Fans can also follow the action live with Gametracker at www.atlantic10.com.

SEMIFINAL #1 - DAYTON RALLIES PAST TEMPLE, 3-1

A-10 First Team pick Yun Yi Zhang tallied a match-best 30 kills on 70 swings, but Temple could not hold on to a 1-0 lead as Dayton rallied for a four-set victory.

"Coming into the match we knew that she was the one player we had to stop," 2009 A-10 Player of the Year Lindsay Fletemier said. "We changed our defense to be in better position against her. We missed a few blocking assignments against her early and she was able to get a couple of kills. As the match went on we became more comfortable and started getting touches."

Dayton was led offensively by the duo of A-10 First Team selections Fletemier and Becky Novacek. Fletemier hit .484 with 17 kills and one solo block. Novacek had 17 kills of her own while hitting at a .469 clip to go along with three blocks.

The Flyer defense reduced the Owls' hitting percentage in each successful set as UD out hit TU .265 to .209 overall. Rookie Team pick 2009 A-10 All-Academic Team selection Kacie Hausfeld posted a team-best 14 digs while 2009 A-10 All-Rookie Team pick Rachel Krabacher added 12 of her own.

"Defensively we got better and we were constantly making adjustments," UD Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. "Towards the end we were where we needed to be. Once we were able to get some touches then we did a good job of converting. That was the key to the match."

SEMIFINAL #2 - SAINT LOUIS ROLLS PAST XAVIER, 3-0

No. 20 Saint Louis took control of the match with a 25-12 win in the second set and fought off a late charge by Xavier in the first and third sets to post a sweep in the second semifinal of the night.

We couldn't be more excited to be in the (A-10) Finals. This where we aspire to be all year long," SLU Head Coach Anne Kordes said. "I am really proud of the way our team played tonight. Xavier is always an incredible match. (Xavier Head Coach) Floyd (Deaton) is one of the best coaches in the country. Just to get a win against their team feels great."