HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS - On the strength of a stellar .266 hitting percentage and 10 blocks, the Drake volleyball team opened its 2008 campaign with a 3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-14) victory over Centenary at the Comfort Suites Sam Houston State Invitational on Friday (Aug. 29).

The win marked the initial head coaching triumph for first-year head coach Phil McDaniel and the first in a season opener for the Bulldogs since a 3-1 victory over Evansville to commence the 2003 campaign.

Drake moved to 1-0 on the year, while Centenary dropped to 0-1.

“We started off the match a little shaky but continued to get better as the match went on,” McDaniel said. “We took care of the ball defensively at the net and served very well and those attributes helped spark us to victory.”

Drake registered its top hitting mark in a match since attacking the ball at a .302 clip in a 3-0 win over Chicago State on Aug. 26, 2006.

The Bulldogs established the tempo early in set one jumping to a 3-0 lead on kills from sophomore Alisa DeBerg Roth (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson), redshirt freshman Mikayla Sims (Waterloo, Iowa/East) and junior Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel DeSoto Minburn).

Drake stood one point away from victory after sophomore Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) deposited a kill to push the margin to 24-19. The Ladies of Centenary fought back with six unanswered tallies to take a 25-24 advantage before the Bulldogs took four of the next five points to escape with a 28-26 decision.

Trailing 8-7 in the second set, Drake recorded six unanswered points on five Centenary errors with Bys serving to assume a lead it didn't relinquish.

The Bulldogs dominated the third set attacking the ball at a .364 clip en route to the 25-14 decision.

Bys led all players with 10 kills, while Madden, Sims and DeBerg Roth chipped in eight, seven and six kills, respectively. Junior Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) contributed a match-best 32 assists and now needs 29 assists to move past Jami Duranski (1987-90) into ninth place in school history. Sophomore Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley) tied for top-match honors with 14 digs. Freshman Michelle Reidy (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert Catholic) notched a match-high five blocks (one solo and four assists), while DeBerg Roth added a solo block and three assists.

Jennifer Kunze directed Centenary with eight kills.

As a unit, Drake bettered the Ladies in kills (37-30), assists (35-25), service aces (8-4), digs (39-35), solo blocks (2-0), block assists (16-4) and total blocks (10.0-2.0).

The Bulldogs return to action later Friday afternoon (Aug. 29) against Ball State at 4:30 p.m.