DES MOINES, IOWA - Drake exhibited flashes of brilliance throughout its Missouri Valley Conference volleyball contest on Friday (Oct. 31), but Creighton kept the Bulldogs from getting a Halloween treat as it registered a 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 24-26, 25-18) victory.

The loss was the ninth straight for Drake, who fell to 9-17 overall, including 2-10 in the MVC.  Creighton notched its 12th win against eight defeats and improved to 9-3 in league action.

“We had some great performances tonight from a number of players,” Bulldog head coach Phil McDaniel explained.  “It was a nice evening for Mikyala (Sims), Alisa (DeBerg Roth) and Michelle (Reidy).  Michelle (Reidy) was a force at the net blocking the ball.  Defensively we did what we wanted to do against Creighton.  They have a lot of big arms on that team and we can't totally stop them but we were able to slow them down and counter attack effectively.”  

The first two sets were tight affairs before the Bluejays pulled ahead late in each frame to secure 25-17 and 25-20 victories, respectively.

Fate appeared on the side of Creighton in the third set as the Bluejays held a 24-22 advantage following a kill by Carolyn Decker.  Drake responded with a run of its own firing off four unanswered tallies to extend the match with a 26-24 set-three triumph.  Fueling the surge were kills from freshman Michelle Reidy (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert Catholic), junior Lindsay Schryver (Williams Bay, Wis./Williams Bay) and redshirt freshman Mikayla Sims (Waterloo, Iowa/East).

The Bulldogs carried over the momentum into the fourth set as Drake jumped out to a 13-8 lead.  The run was fleeting as Creighton netted 12 of the next 14 points to assume a 20-15 margin en route to a 25-18 set-four triumph.  A kill from Allie Oelke sealed the set and the match.

Sophomore Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) paced the Bulldog attack with 12 kills, while Sims added 11.  Sophomore Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley), junior Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel DeSoto Minburn) and Schryver contributed double-figure digs with 14, 12 and 11, respectively.

Freshman Caitlin Johnson (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore Community) distributed a career-best 16 assists for the Bulldogs, while junior Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) recorded a team-best 23.

Reidy and Madden each collected four blocks to pace Drake.  Adding eight, seven and seven kills were Reidy, Madden and sophomore Alisa DeBerg Roth (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson).

Amanda Cvejdlik led all players with a match-high 15-kill performance for Creighton, while Korie Lebeda netted a double-double with a 44-assist, 13-dig evening.

The Bluejays won the statistical battle in kills (61-46), assists (53-40), digs (71-63), blocks (11.0-7.0) and service aces (6-3) en route to posting a .230 attack mark.  Drake finished the contest with a .125 hitting percentage.

The Bulldogs return to the court on Nov. 7 as Drake entertains Illinois State in a 7:00 p.m. tilt.