Dayton Flyers beat Marquette to advance in NCAA volleyball tournament

The Dayton Flyers advanced to the second round of the NCAA volleyball tournament for the ninth time in 16 appearances, beating Marquette 25-20, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23 on Thursday at Purdue’s Holloway Gymnasium in West Lafayette, Ind.

Dayton led 24-20 in the final set but then gave up three straight points before a kill by Lexie Almodovar ended it.

Almodovar had 21 kills. Alayna Yates had 13. Jamie Peterson had 12. Maura Collins and Almodovar each had 15 digs. Livie Sandt had 50 assists. Amelia Moore had six blocks.

Dayton (26-5) won its 20th straight match and will play No. 6 seed Purdue (23-6), the regional host, in the second round at 5 p.m. Friday. Purdue beat Illinois State (19-14) 25-21, 25-17, 25-11 on Thursday night in the other first-round match.

Dayton has played Purdue 10 times. Each team has won five matches. They haven’t played since 2009. Purdue ranks eighth in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

Purdue reached the final eight last season and has played in the round of 16 14 times.

Dayton will try to advance to the third round for the first time in school history. Dayton lost to Nebraska in the second round in 2003, Michigan State in 2007, Illinois in 2009, Ohio State in 2010, Oregon in 2012, Penn State in 2014 and 2015 and Washington in the 2021 spring season.

Marquette (26-6) had won the last three matches in the series against Dayton and beat Dayton 25-23, 25-19, 25-22 in the 2019 NCAA tournament. That match also took place at Purdue.

This time, Dayton led from start to finish in the first set after taking a 3-0 lead. The second set went back and forth until Dayton broke a 19-19 tie with three straight points. Dayton led the third set 24-23 but gave up three straight points as Marquette stayed alive.