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VOLLEYBALL KICKS OFF SPRING SEASON WITH PROMISING START
April 5, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS - The University of Dayton volleyball team began its Spring season with a sixth place finish at the Indianapolis Collegiate Invitational hosted at the Capitol Sports Center on Saturday. UD had a 1-3 record overall on the day playing in best-of-three game matches. The Tournament also adopted the recently approved scoring format for the 2008 competitive season as the first two games were played to 25 points instead of 30. "This was a great tournament to be a part of, with some really nice competition, and will really help us with our preparation going forward," Dayton Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. "It was a typical spring tournament. There were some really good moments and some that were not so good. But, I will say, overall it was a pretty good day." Dayton began with a 2-1 (23-25, 25-23, 16-14) victory over Indiana before falling to Pittsburgh in another three-game match (14-25, 25-14, 10-15). UD then closed out round-robin play with an 0-2 (24-26, 19-25) loss to Sheffield's former team, Albany, to finish third in Pool A. "We got the opportunity to play a lot of people in a lot of different positions today to see what they can do," Sheffield commented. "This is certainly going to help us plan our practices. We are all trying to get to know each other, and every day I'm getting a little better idea of where we are at and what we need to work on." The Flyers then took on Bowling Green in the fifth-place match and fell 0-2 (22-25, 19-25) despite some solid performances on the day from the trio of Yvonne Marten, Nicole Bateman and Mandy Robbe. "A lot of our younger players got a lot of court time and each of them had their moments," Sheffield said. "Yvonne was great today! She was as good as anyone in the tournament. Nicole was an absolute stud with her all-around game in the morning, but slowed down in the afternoon. I am looking forward to getting back in the gym on Monday and start working on some things." Marten finished with 33 kills while hitting at a .361 clip on the day while Bateman recorded 29 kills. Robbe hit .324 while tallying 17 kills for the Flyers who will return to action with their own Spring Classic next Saturday at Frericks Center. The Flyers will host Ohio at 11 a.m. ET and Louisville at 12:30 p.m. ET. Then the Bobcats and Cardinals will square off at 2 p.m. ET. INDIANAPOLIS COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL - Capitol Sports Center
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