DAYTON, Ohio – Senior Liz Guard registered 19 kills and sophomore Amy Arlinghaus 17, but it was not enough as the Eastern Kentucky volleyball team's eight-match winning streak came to an end in five games (30-25, 26-30, 32-34, 30-18, 15-10) Tuesday night at Dayton. It marked EKU's first five-game match since beating Austin Peay in the final contest of the 2004 regular season.
Sophomore Brittany Nobilio tallied a match-high 31 digs, her second consecutive match with over 30 digs, to lead four Colonels (10-4, 2-0) with double-digit digs. Meanwhile, juniors Jessica Sabath (17 digs, 15 kills) and Kelly Jennings (55 assists, 11 digs) each recorded double-doubles in the loss.
The Colonels took the lead early in game one, 10-7 on a Guard kill. But the Flyers (7-9, 1-1) tied it at 10 and did not trail again. EKU managed to tie the score at 22 on a Dayton attack error, but could not retake the advantage as the Colonels lost eight of the final 11 points.
The Colonels came out strong in game two, jumping to a 17-12 lead on an Arlinghaus kill. Dayton clawed back to tie the score at 22, but EKU used two kills from Sabath and a kill from Arlinghaus to hold off the Flyers and level the match at one game apiece.
Game three was close all the way with the Colonels taking their largest lead of the game at 24-20 on another Guard kill. The Flyers fought back to take the lead at 27-26 on three straight EKU attack errors. Down the stretch each team had a couple of game points before the Colonels were able to capitalize on consecutive kills from Arlinghaus and Jennings to take the game, 34-32.
However, the Flyers roared back to take the last two game, hitting .258 while holding EKU to an attack percentage of .017. In game four Dayton cruised to a 12-point victory. The Flyers kept the momentum going in game five, going on a 6-0 run after EKU had tied the score at three and never looked back while taking the game, 15-10.
The Flyers were led by Kortney Norris' match-high 19 kills and sophomore Adrienne Green's team-high 25 digs.
EKU returns to OVC play Friday night, Sept. 30, traveling to take on Southeast Missouri at 8 p.m.
