BAYLOR VB: Dayton Triumphs with a First-Round Win over South Carolina, 3-1

[Ingram, Brent]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Dec. 5, 2024

Dayton Triumphs with a First-Round Win over South Carolina, 3-1
Lexie Almodovar earns match-high 22 kills

By Zach Babajanof-Rustrian, Baylor Athletics Communications

Waco Sub Regional Media Hub<https://baylor.box.com/s/8r17vw4tmeudz0dtd6uh6sqoes4hd7bp>

For more information contact: Brent Ingram; 210-845-8651 brent_ingram at baylor.edu<mailto:brent_ingram at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas -- Redshirt senior Lexie Almodovar had 22 kills and senior Alyssa Miller garnered 38 assists and 6 digs to lead No. 23 Dayton to a 3-1 win (25-20, 25-15, 24-26, 25-10) over South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament, on Thursday night at Baylor’s Ferrell Center.

Dayton (29-2) advances to the second round of the Waco Sub-Regional and will now face the winner of No. 16 Baylor (22-7) and Wofford (23-8) on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN+. The winner of the Waco Sub-Regional will advance to compete against the winner of the Lincoln Sub-Regional.

The Flyers battled the Gamecocks in a highly contested first and third set, claiming the first and second sets before falling in the third set. Dayton was able to dominate in the fourth and final set of the match.

Almodovar, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, had a match-best 22 kills with 13 digs, hitting .197.  Miller, who was named to the Atlantic 10 First Team, had 5 kills with 6 digs and 38 assists.

South Carolina (16-11) hit .240 and had a total of 46 kills and 7 blocks. The Gamecocks had 22 kills from graduate student Riley Whitesides. Freshman Victoria Harris had a match high of 15 digs and contributed 2 set aces.

- BaylorBears.com –

DAYTON POST-MATCH QUOTES

Dayton Head Coach Tim Horsmon
Opening Statement…
“We did a lot of really good things and executed it at a pretty good level. Just really proud of our team, how they prepared and the energy that they played with. They were a lot of fun to coach today. They followed the game plan and executed at a high level. Great teammates today to each other so the energy was really good and it was fun to watch them play.”

On a big day for the A-10 with a Loyola win over BYU …
“I saw Ryan (McGuyre) yesterday and he asked me if that was too soon to bring that back up and I told him it was too soon. Rough day last weekend. We had to recover quickly and figure out why and make some changes in how we practiced. We had a really good week of practice. Loyola played really well. Today, maybe affirmed that they are a really good team and can give you a lot of issues if you are not playing well. Excited about their win and what we did today. It’s a good day for the A-10.”

On Ryan crediting his coaching journey to Tim …
“Ryan is an extraordinary coach. He would be here with or without me. He would’ve found his way. He is probably one of the best volleyball minds in volleyball. I am humbled with him saying that but he is a very good coach and would’ve found his way to this level either way.”

On taking the momentum from the win today into tomorrow …
“That is a great question. We have not been very good at that in year’s past. We are going to have to figure that out. We have a very seasoned and experienced team. Last year we got to play a really tough Washington State team in the second round and they were really good. We had some moments (in that game). We have been in a lot of these moments. A few years ago we had Washington in five sets and Purdue we were up 2-0 and both were ranked sixth in the country. We’ve been in these moments. Lexie (Almadovar) has played in these moments. Brooke (Nichols) was at Louisiville when they were in the final 4 and the national championship match. I am going to trust them to do what we do. They practice the right way and I thin kat this point you have to let them go and hope they are trained the right way and be fearless in how we play tomorrow.”

Lexie Almadovar, OH, R-Sr.
On a match-impacting run at the serve line …
“For me personally, I’ve trained to be in that moment. We talk about those things all the time at practice, playing like you’ve practicing every day. I’ve been in those moments before and I was prepared for what that would be like. My teammates played amazing behind my serve and they didn’t get anything away. We played super confidently and super aggressively the whole match and especially through that long rally. We were able to just punch, punch, punch and we weren’t letting up. That confidence and aggressiveness really led us to that moment.”

On feeling disappointed in not hosting the first and second rounds …
“Obviously that day and the following day was rough. Our coaches gave us a minute to breathe and take it all in, understand what happened and give us time to reflect. When we came back to practice on Monday we talked about letting it go. It is over, it is in the past. What can we do to be better moving forward? We had a day to be upset about it and once we were back in the gym we had work to do, we have places to go and we want to make a run in the tournament. That was what was on our minds. We weren’t upset anymore. We were vengeful to get that opportunity for redemption.”

Brooke Nichols, S/DS, R-Jr.
On the run that fueled the win with Lexie Almadovar on the service line …
“Lexie is our fire on the team, she brings it every single day. At this point it is something we expect from her. It is a really big load that she has to carry and she handles it the best out of anyone. She is someone we can trust. She works hard every day in the gym. When she is on the serving line we know she can be deadly back there. As defenders we are just trying to protect her and keep her on the line.”

SOUTH CAROLINA POST-MATCH QUOTES

South Carolina Head Coach Tom Mendoza
Opening Statement…
“First set was a little bit of how we thought it was going to be. We started out well. We didn’t slow Dayton down well enough on the serve. But I thought we were playing good volleyball, setting at a high level, getting kills, doing the things we worked on that we thought would be effective. Set two, we got away from that a little bit. We started competing in set three. Most importantly, just really proud of these two up here, Oby (Anadi), Ellie (Ruprich) and the seniors and what they’ve done this year. Playing in the SEC is a grind. You have to play well from the first week of non conference all the way through. They’ve handled it really well. You show up at the NCAA Tournament and you think everything is going to fit together. Wish we had played a little cleaner today. We are capable of playing cleaner than we played today. On any given day you have to show up and work as a group. We didn’t do it quite as well as we needed too or we feel we are capable of. But that doesn’t take away from the amount of times we were able to do that this year. Just grateful for these two and the rest of the team and our staff for everything they were able to accomplish this year. This was a team that was capable of making a run in the tournament. Things didn’t go our way today but things don’t go that way for half the teams in the first round. We’re just going to learn from it and move on.”

Riley Whitesides, Gr., LS/OH
On the Dayton run that powered the UD win …
“It’s always frustrating when a team gets on a run. When you are on the other side of that and you are on a run then it feels great. Obviously wanted to avoid that. It is over now and I’m excited about what the program is going to do in the seasons to come and I am grateful for my time here.”
Sarah Jordan, Jr., S
On playing with Riley Whitesides…
“I loved playing with Riley this whole season. I can depend on her any time in any match and I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group of girls. No other outside I would rather want other than Riley. The way we kept swinging and we didn’t back down from anything. We didn’t resort to not playing Gamecock volleyball. We were swinging and attacking and I think that shows our grit and our toughness that we weren’t going to back down and we were going to go out swinging. I really appreciate Riley. She was a powerhouse this whole season.”



--
Brent Ingram | Associate AD for Communications
Baseball Sport Program Administrator
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 210-845-8651

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