Dayton volleyball on winning streak as Horsmon reaches milestone

With victories at home Friday against Rhode Island and Sunday against Fordham, Dayton is 16-5 this season, and Horsmon’s record in 13 seasons stands at 313-89.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to do this long enough,” Horsmon said, “and hopefully, I was OK enough to keep a job and them keep me here. We’ve had some great teams, and I’ve just had some extraordinary young women in this program that truly deserve credit for this and an awesome coaching staff throughout my time here. I think I’m just a small part of that. Luckily, I recruit good kids and I hire great people around me. I think that’s probably the best thing that I do.”

Dreidame was a pioneer in women’s sports. She also coached the women’s basketball team from 1970-78. She was named an associate director of athletes in 1974 and a senior associate director of athletics in 1989. She inducted into the Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

Horsmon described Dreidame’s career as extraordinary and knows the program has a rich tradition. That’s continuing this season as Dayton chases its first Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship since 2016, not counting last season when the league split into two divisions to limit travel during the pandemic and Dayton won its five-team division.

At 9-0 in the A-10, Dayton leads Virginia Commonwealth (6-2), Saint Louis and Davidson (both 5-3) with a month left in the season. The Flyers beat all three of those teams at home in a four-day stretch earlier this month and will play all three again on the road in the coming weeks, starting with matches at VCU on Friday and at Davidson on Sunday.

Redshirt senior outside hitter Jamie Peterson leads the A-10 with 4.35 kills and 0.53 aces per set. Redshirt sophomore setter Livie Sandt ranks second with 8.93 assists per set. Redshirt freshman middle blocker Alayna Yates and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Amelia Moore rank first and second in blocks (1.19 and 1.15 per set, respectively).

Dayton has won 10 matches in a row since losing 3-0 to Michigan on Sept. 18, and none of the last 10 matches have gone to a fifth set.

“I think we’re getting better,” Horsmon said. “I think there’s still a lot of room for growth for us. I don’t think we played very well in the preseason and the first month and a half. To be honest, I probably just did a poor job of getting us ready for some of the things that I needed to get them ready for.”