All streaks must come to an end eventually.

The Massachusetts volleyball team (11-9 overall, 4-6 Atlantic 10) is looking to play the role of streak-breaker as it faces yet another crucial conference weekend as it packs up for the Buckeye State for a pair of matches. Friday night the Minutewomen will air it out against Dayton, who boasts an eight-game win streak, before they prepare to do battle with Xavier, victors of nine straight, on Saturday.

“It’s hard to put two very good matches back to back,” UMass Head Coach Bonnie Kenny said. “We always seem to play Dayton on a home football weekend, so the football team comes. The [Cintas] Center is one of the nicest places we play in conference. We don’t look at it as a hard trip, we really look at it as a challenge.”

The Maroon and White dropped a pair of matches to the two conference teams from Ohio the weekend of Sept. 28, losing in straight sets to the Musketeers and in four games to the Flyers.

Against Dayton (15-4, 8-1 A-10), the Minutewomen put up a strong performance, but excellent overall play by the Flyers was the thorn in their side. A .259 hitting percentage, led by Katie Ferriell’s .368 (17 kills) was too much firepower for the Maroon and White to handle.

“I thought we contained Susan Westbrock well, but Katie Ferriell and their outside hitters had a good match [in the Sept. 29 contest],” Kenny said. “We need to make sure we contain them a little bit more offensively, because that’s their strength.”

Ferriell and Westbrock are certainly the offensive leaders in the middle for the Flyers. They are first and second on the team in kills per game, with 3.30 and 3.05, respectively, and both posess a killing percentage over .300.

“Offensive proficiency and being able to defend at least a couple of their attackers [are the keys to beating Dayton],” Kenny said. “They have the best middle attack in the conference, by far. Against Dayton, we need to take them out of their offense immediately with our serve.”

Key for the Minutewomen will be junior Jitka Stehnova and senior co-captain Lymarie Llovet if UMass wishes to be successful on the serve. Stehnova leads the team with 37 aces and Llovet boasts 15 service aces as compared to 10 service errors. Stehnova will also be a centerpiece of the team’s offensive prowess.

“Our offense starts with passing,” Kenny said. “We’ve been inconsistent with our service receive, which is something we’ve worked on quite a bit in practices. Whether it be Jitka [Stehnova] or Amanda [Thomas], they need to make sure they give hitters balls that they can attack and terminate. Passing is a major key for us so we can have offensive continuity.”

As for the Musketeers (17-2, 7-2 A-10), in their visit to Amherst, they used a four-prong attack that was far too much for the Minutewoman defense to handle. Four attackers posted more than 12 kills and all but one had two errors or fewer, leading Xavier to a lofty .296 hitting percentage in the match.

Leading the way for the Musketeers is Atlantic 10 star Sara Bachus. She is leading the conference in both hitting percentage (an astronomical .419) and kills per game (4.76).

“We have to contain Sara Bachus,” Kenny said. “She leads the conference in kills per game with a dynamic attack. If we can contain her, it should disrupt what they want to do offensively.”

Xavier is coming off a win against Morehead State to improve their string to nine matches. Over the span of the streak, which extends the entire month of October, the Musketeers have dropped just four games, and no more than one in any match.

The Minutewomen have a win streak of their own, but it is far less high profile than that of their opponents. Still, with a team that has struggled to find consistency throughout the 2001 season, a two-game win streak is a place to start.

“I think it’s huge for us [winning our last two games], especially since we played better in areas that we were struggling in,” Kenny said. “We had some people who had to step in for Lymarie [Llovet] and now she’s starting to come back, but we had people who stepped in and helped us there. I like the fact that we played teams and beat them and got better as we were doing it.”

One of those players who has stepped up her play in Llovet’s absence (due to a knee injury) is junior Clare Baxter. Baxter has posted a .358 kill percentage this season, by far the best on the team. Most of her action has come in the last several contests, though, and she has provided Kenny with an additional weapon up front.

Still, Kenny sees the opportunity of a trip to Ohio as not only a challenge, but as a welcome relief.

“With all the midterms kids are having, it might be nice to get on the road and have them rest more.”