DES MOINES, IOWA ? A furious fifth-game rally came up short as Furman withstood a late Drake charge to earn a 3-2 (30-20, 28-30, 20-30, 30-27, 15-13) volleyball victory over the Bulldogs at the Hampton Inn Invitational in the Knapp Center on Saturday (Sept. 1).
On the brink of losing the match as it trailed 14-8 in the deciding fifth game, Drake rolled off five unanswered points to cut the deficit to 14-13. The Bulldogs held serve and the two sides engaged in a lengthy rally which ended only when the Blue and White was whistled for a bad set at the net to end the tilt.
The five-game loss was the second in three matches for the Bulldogs and dropped their ledger to 1-2 on the campaign, while Furman improved to 3-1 overall.
The match was defined by series of runs for both sides as the Paladins took game one, 30-20, before Drake won the second and third games by scores of 30-28 and 30-20. The Bulldogs appeared poised in its attempt to take the fourth stanza to secure the match win but Furman registered four of the final five points to force a deciding game five.
Sophomore
Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel DeSoto Minburn) paced Drake with a 15-kill, 11 dig performance for her fourth career double-double.
Freshman
Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) led the Bulldogs with 17 kills and was joined in double-figures by fellow rookie
Mikayla Sims (Waterloo, Iowa/East) with 15. Sophomore
Lindsay Schryver (Williams Bay, Wis./Williams Bay) chipped in a team-high 16 digs and senior
Sarah Schuster (Indianola, Iowa/Indianola) collected 48 assists.
Chibuzo Aguocha finished with a match-best 24 kills for Furman, while Pamela Gehrke and Courtney Stewardson notched 24 digs and 53 assists, respectively.
The Blue and White registered a .214 attack mark to a .202 hitting percentage for the Paladins. Furman finished with advantages in kills (72-66), assists (59-57), digs (74-62), while the Bulldogs earned the upper hand in service aces (10-6) and blocks (9.0-8.0).
Drake concludes action at the Hampton Inn Invitational on Saturday (Sept.1) as the Bulldogs face Florida Atlantic at 7:30 p.m. The Owls dropped a 3-0 decision to Green Bay in the morning's other contest.