HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS - Overcoming a 2-0 deficit, the Drake volleyball team stormed back to win the final three sets to secure a 3-2 (22-25, 17-25, 25-14, 25-20, 15-8) victory over Ball State at the Comfort Suites Sam Houston State Invitational on Friday (Aug. 29).
The Bulldogs now stand at 2-0 for the first time since the 2003 campaign, while the Cardinals dropped to 0-2 on the year.
“This was a great team effort against a talented Ball State squad,” Drake head coach Phil McDaniel said. “We got some strong efforts from freshman Michelle Reidy and Caitlin Johnson and were very strong defensively as we picked up 11 blocks.”
Drake held the momentum for most of the first set before Ball State broke open a 22-22 contest with three unanswered tallies to earn a 25-22 decision.
The Cardinals lead wire-to-wire in the second frame to pull within one set of victory with a 25-17 triumph.
McDaniel made a line-up switch in the third set and the results were immediate as the Bulldogs raced out to an 8-2 advantage. Ball State cut the margin to 12-8 before Drake rolled off eight straight points to assume a 20-8 lead. Fueling the surge was a pair of kills from sophomore Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) and two services aces off the hands of junior Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown). Bys then sealed the deal with a kill to earn Drake a 25-14 victory.
The Bulldogs followed with a 25-20 win in the fourth set to square the match at two apiece.
Drake took over in the final set as the Bulldogs posted a .438 hitting percentage and recorded seven kills against no errors.
Bys paced all players with a match-high 18 kills. Sophomore Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley) came up one dig shy of equaling her career high recording 23 digs. Lauersdorf collected a double-double with a 40-assist and a career-best 14-dig performance. With her 40 assists, Lauersdorf moved into ninth place in school history with 1,219 career assists.
Freshman Michelle Reidy (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert Catholic) chipped in eight kills, while attacking the ball at a .467 clip. Freshman Caitlin Johnson (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore Community) in her first appearance as Drake's setter in the contest distributed six assists. Bys, Reidy, redshirt freshman Mikayla Sims (Waterloo, Iowa/East) and sophomore Alisa DeBerg Roth (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson) each recorded three blocks.
Julie Breivogel paced Ball State with 16 kills, while Alyssa Rio netted a match-high 29 digs.
Drake bettered the Cardinals in kills (52-47), assists (51-43) and blocks (11.0-6.0), while Ball State won the dig column, 69-58.
The Bulldogs return the court against host Sam Houston State on Saturday (Aug. 30) at 11:30 a.m.
