TERRE HAUTE, IND. -
Bringing an end to its three-match losing streak, the Drake volleyball team
registered a dramatic 3-2 (17-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 15-13) victory over Indiana State on Friday evening (Oct. 10).
The
Bulldogs improved their ledger to 9-8 overall, including 2-4 in the Missouri
Valley Conference. The loss was the
Sycamores fourth straight to Drake and dropped Indiana State to 7-12 on the
year and 1-6 in league play.
The
win pushed the Bulldogs to 4-0 on the year in five-set matches, while setting a
high-water mark for victories for each active member of the Drake squad. The Bulldogs had not posted more than eight
wins in a season since registering 11 wins in 2003.
“We
got some solid performances tonight,” Drake head coach Phil McDaniel commented.
“Michelle (Reidy) was a very big spark plug for us offensively, while
Mikayla (Sims) was very productive in limited action. Indiana
State is much improved
and played with great confidence at home tonight.”
Drake
dropped the opening set, 25-17, before attacking the ball at a .217 clip in the
second stanza to square the contest at one with a 25-23 victory in the second
frame.
The
Sycamores regained the lead with a 25-23 decision in the third set before the
Bulldogs hit .351 and .429, respectively in the fourth and fifth frames to
secure the triumph.
Drake
garnered a pair of double-doubles in the affair as junior Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) and
sophomore Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion)
each recorded their team-best sixth double-doubles of the year. Lauersdorf posted a season-high 51 assists,
while contributing 13 digs. Bys turned
in a match- and season-best 20 kills to go along with 13 digs.
Freshman
Michelle Reidy (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert
Catholic) provided a spark offensively for the Bulldogs registering a
career-best 17 kills en route to attacking the ball at .414 clip.
Redshirt
freshman Mikayla Sims (Waterloo, Iowa/East)
added 10 kills, while sophomore Alana
Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie
Valley) and junior Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel
DeSoto Minburn) recorded 22 and 12 digs, respectively.
Kelli
Whitaker paced three Indiana
State players with
double-figure kills recording 15.
Drake
won the statistical count in kills (67-57), assists (63-53) and digs (78-74),
while blocks were all square at seven apiece.
The
Bulldogs return to the court on Saturday evening (Oct. 11), playing at
Illinois State in a 7 p.m. tilt.
