SPRINGFIELD, MO. - Attacking the
ball at a .301 clip, Missouri
State recorded a 3-0
(25-12, 25-16, 25-23) Missouri Valley Conference volleyball victory over Drake
on Friday evening (Oct. 24).
The Bulldogs fell for the sixth straight time and dropped to
9-14 overall and 2-8 in the MVC, while the Lady Bears pushed their ledger to
16-7 on the year, including 7-3 in conference action following the win.
“We started to block better in the second and third sets,
but too many errors and mistakes on our side of the net didn't give us a chance
to compete,” Drake head coach Phil
McDaniel commented. “We haven't been
paying enough attention to our game plan when we step on the court from the
start. We have a good plan in place, but
it is too little too late when we don't execute until the third set.”
The Bulldogs' hitting numbers increased in each set but Missouri State benefited from Drake's hitting
errors as the Lady Bears collected the victory on the strength of advantages in
kills (44-33), assists (39-31), digs (43-40) and blocks (8.0-5.0).
Redshirt freshman Mikayla
Sims (Waterloo, Iowa/East)
and sophomore Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion)
directed the Bulldogs with nine kills apiece.
Junior Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) added 22 assists, while sophomore Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie
Valley) chipped in a team-best 12 digs.
Wittenburg's first dig was the 843rd of her career, which
moved her past Kathy Kinsella (1986-89) into 10th place in school history. She later moved past Alison Dedrick
(844/1988-91), Stacie Kocourek (847/1997-2000) and Jami Duranski (850/1987-91)
and sits seventh all-time at Drake with 854 career digs.
McDaniel credited sophomore Nicole Brown (Appleton,
Wis./Xavier) with a strong match
off the bench as she attacked the ball at a .333 clip en route to posting three
digs and a pair of kills.
Kelly Michnowicz and Addie Foley directed Missouri State
with 12 and 10 kills, respectively.
The Bulldogs close out their weekend road swing on Saturday
(Oct. 25) as Drake faces No. 12 Wichita State in a 6:00 p.m. tilt.
