HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Drake University volleyball split a pair of matches on the final day of the JMU Invitational to go 2-1 in the three-game tournament and improve to 5-2 overall this season. The Bulldogs began the day with a 3-0 sweep of Cornell before falling to the host, JMU, 3-1 in the tournament championship game.
Senior Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) led the Bulldogs with 20 kills and 27 digs on Saturday to move her into sixth all-time in career digs at Drake with 1,132. She opened the day with 12 kills in 30 attempts in the three-set win over Cornell and followed that with eight kills and a season-high 20 digs in the loss to JMU. Freshman Natalie Fry (Allen, Texas) recorded a career-high 14 kills on 32 attempts in the loss to JMU.
The Bulldogs swept their morning match by set scores of 25-19, 25-11, 25-22, with Cathryn Cheek (Coppell, Texas) adding seven kills and nine digs. Courtney Morehead (Bellevue, Neb.) recorded 24 digs while Paige Aspinwall (Dayton, Minn.) guided the offense with 20 assists. The first set was the only one in which the Bulldogs were threatened as the lead swapped hands 11 times before only changing sides twice in the next two sets.
In the evening match the Bulldogs faced the defending CAA Tournament Champions and NCAA Tournament participant, JMU. The Dukes prevailed by set scores of 19-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-15. JMU had a pair of players record 17 kills each as JMU outhit Drake, .271-.115. In addition to Inderski and Fry's performances in the loss, Grace Schofield (Mundelein, Ill.) added nine kills and hit .271. Defensively, three Bulldogs recorded double-figure digs with Morehead and Aspinwall joining Inderski. Alexa Aldrich-Ingram (Iowa City, Iowa) notched a career-high 22 assists in the loss to the undefeated Dukes.
The Bulldogs opened play at the JMU Invitational with a 3-0 win over Hampton on Friday afternoon.
The team returns home this week to host the Drake Invitational with three days of matches against Omaha, Southeast Missouri State, San Jose State and Montana. Tournament action begins Sept. 7 against Omaha at 7 p.m. in the Knapp Center. The contest will be broadcast on The Valley On ESPN3.
