Flyers go deepest ever in NCAA
For the first- and second- round games of the NCAA division I volleyball tournament, the highest seed of the four teams at each site acts as host. In early December, the No. 23 Dayton Flyers (a No. 5 seed in the tournament) were more than 1,000 miles away from home.
They were playing in Waco, Texas, at the Ferrell Center, home of the No. 16 Baylor Bears of the Big 12.
In the first round, Dayton faced South Carolina, who had won an at-large bid out of the Southeastern Conference. With a four-set victory (25-20, 25-15, 24-26, 25-10), theFlyers notched their 11th NCAA tournament victory in program history.
Baylor disposed of its first-round opponent, Wofford, 25-11, 25-11, 25-18, to set up the Flyers’ encounter with the home team. That match was much tighter than Baylor’s and Dayton’s first-round matches. Dayton advanced to the regional for the first time in school history by winning 25-22, 22-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12.
That advance took them to Lincoln, Nebraska, to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Ten. Spoiler alert: Nebraska finished its season 33-3 losing in the tournament’s semifinals in five sets to Penn State who won the championship in its next game. Dayton lost to Nebraska 17-25, 18-25, 27-25, 13-25. Dayton and Penn State were the only teams to win a set against Nebraska in the tournament.
Dayton ended its season with a 31-3 record, the 11th time in program history the Flyers have had 30 wins. These Flyers were the first team in program history to reach the Sweet Sixteen.
Six Flyers played their last UD game: Lexie Almodovar, Alyssa Miller, Brooke Nichols, Brooke Smith, Alia Williams and Alayna Yates.
Almodovar was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I All-American third team. Her 5.02 kills/set mark was sixth in the NCAA this year and the highest in program history. She set the Flyer career record for kills with 2,033; the previous record was 1,796 by Faye Barhorst ’07.
In the five-set win over Baylor she had 34 kills, a Dayton NCAA tournament record. That night, Miller had a season-high 51 assists; and Liana Sarkissian had a career-high 17 kills.
Almodovar, Miller and Sarkissian were all named to the AVCA Division I All-Midwest Region first team. Tim Horsman was named All-Midwest Region coach of the year.
Horsman was also named Atlantic 10 Conference coach of the year for the eighth time in his 16 years at UD. Almodovar, Miller and Yates made the A-10 first team; Sarkissian, the second team. Almodovar was the A-10 player of the year for the second season in a row.
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A version of this article appears in print in the Spring 2025 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 25. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE