Dec. 1, 2011

NCAA Volleyball Championship First Round
Site: College Station, Texas (Reed Arena)
Result: Kentucky 3, Dayton 2 (20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-25, 14-16)
Records: Dayton (25-7); Kentucky (27-5)

Postmatch Quotes

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – University of Dayton volleyball lost a five-set heartbreaker to No. 16 Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship on Thursday night at Reed Arena (20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-25, 14-16).

The Flyers had the Wildcats on the ropes with match point in the fifth set, 14-12, but Kentucky closed the match on a 4-0 run to win 16-14 and advance to the second round.

In her last match as a Flyer, senior Yvonne Marten led Dayton with 19 kills – one shy of her career-high.

Junior outside hitter Rachel Krabacher finished the match with 15 kills and ends the season five kills short of 1,000 career kills. The Cincinnati native added 19 digs for her 13th double-double of the season.

Sophomore libero Paige Vargas had 24 digs on the evening as she moved into second place in career digs at Dayton with 1,461 – passing Cindy Moffitt (1987-90).

Dayton’s championship season comes to an end with a 25-7 record. It is just the second loss in the last 23 matches for the three-peat A-10 regular season and tournament champions. Six of Dayton’s seven losses were against ranked teams, including a 0-5 mark in five-set matches.

Kentucky (27-5) evens the all-time series with the Dayton, 2-2. The Wildcats featured match-highs of 20 kills from Ashley Frazier and 28 digs from Stephanie Klefot.

The Flyers are slated to return 11 of 12 players for the 2012 season.