Dayton Flyers

DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton Flyers beat the Rhode Island Rams 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-11) on Friday to improve to 23-3 and 12-1 in the Atlantic 10. The Flyers remain in first place with the win over URI.

Dayton hit .257 in the match to Rhode Island's .049. The Flyers had seven service aces against Rhody in the match. The Flyers got off to a slow start but bounced back as the match progressed, closing out the Rams in three sets.

"The start of the match had a lot to do with what they were doing," head coach Kelly Sheffield said. "They had great defense and we had some difficulty with their serve. I thought we came out jittery, but once we settled down we played well."

Junior outside hitter Tiffany Gaerke hit .667 in the match, while going 13-of-18 with one attack error. Gaerke's kill count nearly tied her season-high of 14 set against Western Michigan on Sept. 5. She also had two service aces in the match.

"Tiff was great tonight," Sheffield said. "When she is feeling it, she is really, really good. I think she's becoming a more consistent player, and when she's on top of her game we are pretty good. She's more comfortable on the right side. There's a big adjustment and you can just tell that she is starting to settle."

Amanda Cowdrey had 11 kills and a team-leading 14 digs against URI. For Cowdrey, it was her 12th double-double of the year. She also led the team with three service aces.

"Amanda started out a little bit shaky," Sheffield said. "To her credit, she got better as the match went on. It takes a lot of mental toughness when things don't start out the way you want to. When her and Paige started to settle down, you could see the offense change."

All-American middle blocker Lindsay Fletemier hit .312 in the match and chimed in for five (1 solo, 4 assist) of Dayton's seven total blocks. Anna Eytchison tallied six kills for a .385 hitting percentage. She also had one solo block and one block assist.

"We didn't go to Lindsay as much tonight," Sheffield said. "They were trying to shut her down. We didn't try to force the ball to her too much since we had other hitters that were hot. I think that's a sign of a pretty good team when we can go to our other options."

Rookie libero Paige Vargas had 12 digs in the match. She also had one ace. Setters Kacie Hausfeld and Hannah Clancy traded sets for 18 and 16 assists respectively.

The Flyers return to action on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET to face the Duquesne Dukes. Gametracker is available at www.DaytonFlyers.com.