WICHITA,
KAN. - Buoyed by a .324 attack mark,
Wichita State snapped Drake's seven-match winning streak on Friday (Oct. 30)
earning a 3-0 (25-9, 25-21, 25-12) victory over the Bulldogs in Missouri Valley
Conference Volleyball action.
The
loss dropped Drake to 18-8 overall, including 7-5 in league play, while the
Shockers improved their ledger to 17-4 and 8-3 in the MVC.
"We
came in and got intimidated by Wichita State and it showed in the way we played
and attacked the ball," Bulldog head coach Phil McDaniel commented.
"The confidence we had displayed for the past couple of weeks we didn't
have it tonight."
Wichita
State was dominating in the initial stanza as the Shockers parlayed a .481
hitting percentage into a 25-9 victory.
Drake registered only six kills in the frame, while committing five
errors.
The
Bulldogs rebounded to attack ball at a respectable .125 clip in the second
game, while holding Wichita State to a .182 attack mark, but came up short in a
25-21 decision.
In
the deciding frame, Drake registered more errors and kills and fell, 25-12.
The
Bulldogs finished the contest attacking the ball at a .060 clip and were led by
six kills from junior Angela Bys
(Marion, Iowa/Marion). The
Shockers garnered 13 and 11 kills, respectively, from Emily Stockman and Kate
Niggemeyer.
Junior
Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn,
Iowa/Wapsie Valley) paced the Bulldogs with nine digs, while senior Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown,
Wis./Watertown) just missed a double-double with an 18-assist, eight-dig
effort.
Wichita
State bettered Drake in kills (44-25), assists (43-24), service aces (6-0),
digs (64-41) and blocks (6.0-4.0).
"Our
defense has been the driving force in our recent success and we didn't play
smart enough at the net tonight," McDaniel stated. "Blocking-wise, we lost our defensive assignments at times
and we made too many errors and we can't give Wichita State too many
opportunities if we expect to net results."
The
Bulldogs will look to start a new winning streak on Saturday (Oct. 31) as Drake
faces a road test at Missouri State.
First serve is slated for 7:00 p.m.