ST. LOUIS - Top-seed Saint Louis and No. 2 Dayton will meet in the finals of the 2008 Atlantic 10 Conference Volleyball Championship on Sunday. The Flyers swept George Washington 25-18, 25-21, 25-15 on Saturday, while the Billikens downed Xavier 25-16, 25-17, 25-14. The championship match is slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday at Chaifetz Pavilion in St. Louis.

In the first semifinal match, set one was tied at 4-4 before a kill by Lindsay Fletemier started a 3-0 burst by Dayton. Chelsy Christoff served consecutive aces as the Flyers moved to a 7-4 lead. GW answered with three straight points to tie the contest at 7-7. The score was tied at 9-9 before UD scored four of the next five points to assume a 13-10 advantage. GW answered by scoring three of the next four points to close to 14-13. A GW hitting error, a UD kill and a block gave the Flyers a 17-13 cushion forcing a Colonials' timeout. GW had a kill to slow down the UD run, but the Flyers scored seven of the next eight points to take charge. A kill by Fletemier closed out the 25-18 win. The Flyers had 4.0 team blocks in the first set and forced GW into hitting .069.

Holding a narrow 8-7 lead in set two, the Flyers scored three in a row and seven of the next eight points to surge to a 14-8 lead. Leah Hill and Katie Butz struck for two kills apiece as the Colonials inched back into the contest at 16-13. The Flyers still led 19-16 before two straight kills by Fletemier boosted the lead to 21-16. The Colonials got as close as 24-21, but a kill by Bethany Akerhielm ended the set.

The Flyers jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead to open set three before Abby Syverson got GW on the board. The Colonials used a kill, two blocks and a UD hitting error to forge a 5-5 tie. With the score 6-6, the Flyers put together five straight points to march to an 11-6 margin. GW tallied two straight points on UD errors, but the Flyers ripped off a 5-0 run to move out to a 16-8 lead. Dayton served a ball out and then committed a hitting error to allow GW to edge closer at 16-10. The Flyers maintained a comfortable margin, and Akerhielm's crosscourt kill ended the match 25-15.

Fletemier and Akerhielm led Dayton with 12 kills apiece, while hitting .333 and .500, respectively. Mandy Robbe topped UD with 12 digs, and Nicole Bateman had 11. Kacie Hausfeld handed out 39 assists. For the Colonials, Butz notched 10 kills, while Liz Moult finished with nine kills. Maggie Wright had a team-high nine digs, and Alyssa Valentine finished with 21 assists. The Flyers had 41 kills and finished with a .222 hitting percentage, while the Colonials recorded 29 kills and were limited to a .108 hitting mark. The Flyers improve to 21-10, while the Colonials are now 19-11.

The second match in the semis pitted top seed and host Saint Louis against No. 4 Xavier. The Billikens stormed out of the gate quickly by scoring the first four points of the set. Bridget Fonke had a kill on the first point and followed with a solo block. Another SLU kill and a Xavier hitting error put the Billikens up 4-0. The Musketeers took advantage of two SLU errors and eventually closed to 9-6. The SLU lead was 10-7 before the Billikens tallied four of the next five points. The Billikens held a 17-11 lead and ran off three consecutive points to take charge at 20-11. A Lauren Christman kill ended the set 25-16. The Billikens had 19 kills and finished with a .500 hitting percentage while holding Xavier to a .133 mark.

The Billikens scored the first two points of set two, but XU tied the affair at 5-5. SLU edged ahead 7-5, but the Musketeers rallied again to tie it at 7-7 on a Chelsea Campbell kill and a SLU error. The set remained close as the Billikens maintained the lead at 12-11 before scoring three straight points to build a 15-11 lead. Lauren Kaminsky had a kill for XU to end the short SLU run at 15-12. Kelly Ruth had a kill for XU to pull the score to 17-13, but the Billikens tallied four of the next five points. SLU kept the advantage and ended the set on a kill by Christman 25-17. The Billikens kept up their hot hitting with a .344 attack percentage.

SLU took the early advantage in set three by scoring four of the first five points. The Billiken advantage stood at 7-3 before SLU tallied three straight points and five of the next six to build a 12-4 margin. The Billikens kept the lead at seven points and held a 17-9 advantage until scoring three straight points to build a double-digit lead. SLU did not allow Xavier to edge any closer, and a Sally Warning kill ended the match 25-14.

Fonke led the Billikens with 14 kills, completed a double-double with 11 digs and hit .524 for the match. Sammi McCloud hit .381 with nine kills, while Whitney Behrens notched 11 digs. Kaminsky led Xavier with nine kills, and Ruth added seven. Hillary Otte and Megan Hellmann tied for team honors with seven digs. The Billikens finished with 46 kills and hit a season-high .427 for the match. The Billikens out-dug Xavier 43-31.

The No. 21 Billikens won their 17th straight decision and improve to 25-4 on the season. Xavier now stands at 16-14.