South Tahoe too much for Dayton volleyball

DAYTON – South Tahoe's presence in the front row was too much for Dayton volleyball Wednesday night at home.

The Vikings brought in Abrielle Bross and Alysse Bross – both transfers from southern California – who spent most of the evening peppering balls to the floor.

Ultimately, South Tahoe left with a win in three sets of 25-10, 25-21, 25-18, maintaining its perfect 7-0 record in league play.

Abrielle boasts a 6-foot-1 frame and was jumping well into the air over top of the Dust Devil blockers for a majority of the night.

"We are one of the shortest teams in the league," said Dayton head coach Alyse Fletcher. "We were pulling off instead of running a two-person block on them. ... We knew as long as we had the ball in our possession we could do something with it.

"Those two girls (Abrielle and Alysse) are extremely amazing athletes."

Dayton didn't roll over after the opening set in which South Tahoe reeled off 13 points in a row after taking a 12-10 lead.

South Tahoe proceeded to leap out to a 20-12 lead in the second set, but after a timeout from Fletcher, Dayton came back with a new energy.

Three aces from Julie Rogacs and two more from Maile Connor pushed South Tahoe to a timeout of its own as the Dust Devils trimmed the Vikings' lead to 23-20.

The Vikings capped the set with an ace of their own after a kill off the hand of Abrielle.

Dayton was tasked with battling back again in the third set, falling behind 8-0 to open up the do-or-die frame.

The Dust Devils were able to cut the South Tahoe lead to around six points, but that's as close as they got.

Fletcher and the Dust Devils played a lot of out of system volleyball as Dayton was continually forced to dig up South Tahoe attacks.

Dayton senior Marissa Hein was moved around over the course of the match from middle to left hitter to try and counter the height and length of the Vikings.

"Messing that stuff up and changing our defense too. I think it was a risk we took, but I think it worked out better," said Fletcher.

While making adjustments, finding positive energy is something Fletcher said she plans on pushing her team to continue doing.

Dayton was also without starting setter Tamia Powell, who has missed this week with a medical issue. Fletcher said she didn't have any estimated return as of Wednesday night.

UP NEXT: Dayton (6-4, 5-4) will head to Reno Friday to take on North Valleys (0-11, 0-8) in hopes of ending the losing streak at one.