TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The ability to bounce back after a rough outing has been the trademark for the Drake volleyball team and the Bulldogs again showed their gritty resolve on Saturday (Oct. 27) as the Blue and White completed a season sweep of Indiana State with a 3-0 (30-13, 30-23, 30-25) victory over the Sycamores.
The victory pushed the Bulldogs (7-17, 4-9 MVC) to within one win of matching their victory total (8) for all of last season, while equaling their league win output (4) of a year ago. The loss drops Indiana State to 3-18 on the campaign, including 0-13 in the MVC.
Drake came out firing in game one as the Blue and White struck the ball at a match-high .289 clip en route to collecting a dominating 30-13 victory. The win in the initial stanza marked only the third time this season that the Bulldogs have taken game one on the road, with Drake going on to take the match on all three occasions.
The hitting numbers cooled for the Blue and White in the next two frames but the Bulldogs didn't as Drake notched 30-23 and 30-25 decisions to secure the match in three games. The win marked the first road league triumph in three games since Sept. 24, 2005 at Indiana State.
Freshman Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) posted her fourth consecutive double-digit kill effort finishing with a match-best 14 kills. Stephanie Volden paced the Sycamore attack with 10 kills.
Freshman Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley) led four Bulldogs with double-figure digs netting 21. Joining her was sophomore Lindsay Schryver (Williams Bay, Wis./Williams Bay), freshman Nicole Brown (Appleton, Wis./Xavier) and sophomore Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel DeSoto Minburn) with 14, 11 and 11 digs, respectively. Kristy Cox directed all players with 25 digs for Indiana State.
Senior Sarah Schuster (Indianola, Iowa/Indianola) and sophomore Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) nearly split the assists for the Blue and White as the duo accounted for 16 and 15 assists.
The Bulldogs dominated the final stat sheet in nearly every category as Drake bettered Indiana State in kills (47-32), assists (40-29), digs (82-66) and service aces (11-2). The Sycamores got the best of Drake at the net as they collected seven blocks to only two by the Bulldogs.
Drake finished the affair posting a .221 hitting percentage, while Indiana State recorded a .107 attack mark.
The Bulldogs now return home for their final homestand of the season beginning with a showdown versus Evansville on Friday (Nov. 2) at 7:00 p.m.
