By: Luke Feliciano ~Guest Writer~

The Xavier women’s volleyball team dropped the first two games of the Dayton Invitational to Dayton and Chattanooga, respectively, but capped off the weekend by sweeping the Northwestern Wildcats three sets to none.

In the opening game of the invitational, the Musketeers had a tough matchup against an undefeated Dayton Flyer team. They were able to halt the Flyers from completing the straight set sweep but ended up losing the match three sets to one.

Senior outside hitter Abbey Bessler carried the load offensively by recording a team-high 17 kills on the night. Junior outside hitter Kristen Massa also contributed to the offense with nine kills while senior right side hitter Sofia Peterson ended the match with seven kills.

In the Saturday game against Chattanooga, Xavier captured a much-needed first set victory but failed to maintain that momentum, ultimately losing the match three sets to one.

Bessler complimented a strong performance against Dayton with 22 kills versus Chatanooga, the most for the match. Peterson also scored in double digits with 11 kills. Junior middle blocker Lauren Frilling had nine blocks, and senior Brooke Betts had seven kills.

The Musketeers dominated Northwestern, sweeping them in the third game of the invitational three games to none.

Xavier shared the wealth offensively by having three players with more than 10 kills in the match. Bessler once again had the team high in kills, this time with 13. Peterson and Massa both had 10 kills each.

Frilling scored eight kills while also being named to the all-tournament team.

Xavier ended the weekend remaining at .500 on the year, with another tournament this Friday, Sept. 9, at Western Michigan.