One magical season is over, but it may be just the beginning for the UD volleyball team.

The Dayton Flyers lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Friday, finishing the impressive season with a 30-4 record. Fifth ranked Illinois took down the young A-10 Champs 28-26, 8-25, 17-25, 18-25 at their home court to advance to the Sweet 16 instead.

It was a team goal to advance to the third round of the tournament for the first time in school history, making the loss in Champaign difficult for the Flyers. With the right perspective however, the team has a great chance to make history yet again next season.

Dayton had only one senior on the entire roster this year in marketing major Chelsy Christoff and will return their entire starting lineup in 2010. Overpowered by an Illinois team that finished with 18.5 blocks, Dayton will look to regroup and reload for another successful season that begins eight months from now.

"We didn't fulfill all of our goals for the season," second-year Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. "But it was a very good year to be able to come back and win the conference championship while beating some really good teams along the way."

After holding on to narrowly win the first set against Illinois, the Flyers were unable to match them point-for-point. Six opponent blocks in the second frame and then a .344 shooting efficiency against the third set dug a big hole for the visiting underdogs.

Managing just a .064 attack percentage in the fourth set against 6.5 more blocks for Illinois, it was the end of the road for Dayton.

"They were a great team; they deserved their seed, and they played their best game after that first set," Christoff said.

Starting the tournament Thursday night, UD defeated Wisconsin-Milwaukee to advance to the second round for the third time in seven years. Junior Amanda Cowdrey paced the team with 16 kills and 27 digs, maintaining her hot streak of recent play in leading the Flyers to a 15-4 victory in the deciding fifth set.

Dayton reached the 30-win plateau for the second time in three years against the unranked Panthers, who entered the tournament winners of their last 11 contests. The Flyers also now own more Atlantic-10 Championships (five) than any other school in the conference.

"I am very proud of what our team and staff was able to accomplish this year," Sheffield said. "It is a special group and a team that works really hard. They grew a lot this season and we had really good leadership while dealing with multiple injuries."

A huge positive for the program all season was its youth with just one senior on the roster. However, that never tempered their expectations. With the end of 2009 soon approaching, 2010 has the potential to be one of UD's greatest seasons ever and the year UD finally reaches the Holy Grail of the Sweet 16.

The only player that will not be on the team next season is the Ill. native Christoff. The defensive specialist appeared in 32 of 34 contests this season and played in 132 matches during her four-year career with the team.

Christoff said that her favorite memories of the season were defeating Big Ten power Purdue in September and beating St. Louis at home to capture the conference title.

"It is always good to go out on top and having not won on Thursday would be really upsetting," she said.

It was a disappointing way to end their tournament run, and no matter what happens next season, it will be much different not having Christoff along for the ride.

"I am going to miss having Chelsy in the gym. She was really fun to work with and be around," Sheffield said. "This team is going to need to replace her leadership, positive attitude and demeanor."