DES MOINES, IOWA - Poor hitting plagued the Drake volleyball team as they fell to Northern Iowa, 3-0, (25-11, 25-16, 25-13) in the Missouri Valley Conference opener Friday night.

"I have to give credit to UNI, they came out and played really well tonight," said Drake head coach Phil McDaniel. "We tried to play it safe instead of keeping the pressure on and you can't do that against a team like UNI."

Drake compiled an attack percentage of .119 with 27 kills and 14 errors on 109 total attacks. On the other side, UNI hit at a .404 clip with 54 kills and eight errors on 114 attacks.

The Bulldogs were led by junior outside hitter Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) and redshirt freshman middle blocker Emily Heffernen (Manchester, Iowa/West Delaware) with nine and seven kills, respectively. Heffernen had a consistent night with a .467 attack percentage (seven kills, 0 errors, 15 attempts).

Senior setter Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) had a team-high 19 assists, while sophomore setter Caitlin Johnson (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore Community) added seven assists.  Junior libero Alana Wittenburg (Redlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley) broke her 10-game streak of double-digit digs, collecting nine on the night.

UNI topped Drake in kills (54-27), assists (49-27), digs (58-42), service aces (3-0) and blocks (6-2).

The Panthers were led by Michelle Burow with 13 kills and Amy Braun with a 10-kill, 10-dig performance.

"We missed quite a few defensive assignments tonight and we came out and weren't aggressive enough attacking the ball," commented McDaniel.

Drake continues MVC play, hosing Bradley tomorrow (Sept. 19) at  7 p.m.

"We don't have time to dwell on this loss," noted McDaniel. "We have Bradley tomorrow night and we have to come out and reestablish ourselves offensively and do a better job blocking at the net."