DES MOINES, IOWA ? Freshman
Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) near brought down the house with a career-best 30-kill explosion but in the end it was Iowa which escaped with a 3-1 (27-30, 30-26, 30-25, 33-31) volleyball triumph over Drake at the Hampton Inn State of Iowa Collegiate Volleyball Challenge on Friday evening (Sept. 7) in the Knapp Center.
Bys registered 10 of her match-high 30 kills in an epic battle of wills between two in-state rivals in the deciding fourth game. On the verge to claiming the frame and the match, the Hawkeyes saw a seeming insurmountable 28-22 advantage wilt as the Bulldogs rolled off six unanswered points to square the game at 28. The two sides exchanged points before Drake evened the score at 30 and then went ahead 31-30 on a kill by senior
Samantha Nelson (Ceresco, Neb./Raymond Central).
Iowa thwarted the rally with a kill from Aimee Huffman coupled with a Drake attack error to secure the game and the match.
The loss drops the Bulldogs to 2-3 on the campaign, while the Hawkeyes improved to 5-1 overall.
“There is no other team in the country that I'd rather coach right now because of the heart that these girls have to never quit and always keep fighting,” Drake head coach Amy Farber Knowles said. “To only have one senior on the court tonight and have Angela (Bys) have a 30-kill match is phenomenal. The rest of the team wasn't on and for us to have the injuries we have had this week and completely transform our offense into three days is great, I couldn't have asked for more. Had we not dug ourselves holes at certain times it wouldn't have been quite so hard for us.”
Sophomore
Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) registered her first double-double of the season as she paced Drake with a 53-assist, 10-dig effort. Joining Bys in double-figures in kills was sophomore
Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel DeSoto Minburn) with 10. Drake garnered 18, 15, 14 and 10 digs from freshman
Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley), Madden, sophomore
Lindsay Schryver (Williams Bay, Wis./Williams Bay) and Lauersdorf.
Iowa received double-digit kills from Megan Schipper, Becky Walters and Megan Eskew, respectively. Emily Hiza recorded a match-best 29 digs, while Huffman and Kiley Fister posted 24 and 22 assists.
In the tournament opener, Iowa State shocked 21st-ranked Louisiana State with a 3-1 victory.
Drake concludes tournament play on Saturday (Sept. 8) with a 10:00 a.m. match versus LSU before tackling in-state rival Iowa State at 7:30 p.m.
