DES MOINES, IOWA - The Drake volleyball opened play at the Hampton Invitational Friday with a five-game loss to South Dakota and a sweep of Valparaiso. The Bulldogs fell to the Coyotes 23-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-15, 11-15 in the morning session before topping Valparaiso 25-22, 25-21, 25-12 in the day's final match.
"We came out a little flat against South Dakota," said Drake second-year head coach Phil McDaniel. "We didn't block well and weren't able to slow down their offense and take some pressure off our back-row defense."
On paper. Drake dominated South Dakota in the match with better numbers in kills (65-59), attack percentage (.236-.180), assists (61-56), digs (75-64) and blocks (8-6).
Junior libero Alana Wittenburg (Redlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley) collected a career-high 35 digs and senior setter Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) had a team-high 48 assists.
Four players registered double-digit kills led by sophomore middle blocker Michelle Reidy (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert Catholic) with 16.
Reidy was followed by junior outside hitter Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) with 14 kills, junior outside hitter Alisa DeBerg Roth (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson) with 12 and redshirt freshman middle blocker Emily Heffernen (Manchester, Iowa/West Delaware) with 11.
Senior defensive specialist Lindsay Schryver (Williams Bay, Wis./Williams Bay) led the team with three service aces.
In the second match of the day the Bulldogs came out more efficient, not surrendering a game to the visiting Crusaders.
Heffernen paced the team with nine kills and eight blocks while Bys and Reidy added seven kills and three blocks apiece. Adding to the Bulldogs 22 blocks was DeBerg Roth and senior outside hitter Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel DeSoto Minburn) with three blocks each.
Lauersdorf had a team-high 19 assists followed by sophomore setter Caitlin Johnson (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore Community) with nine assists along with 11 digs.
Wittenburg again led the Bulldogs with a team-leading 12 digs.
"Against Valparaiso our defensive intensity was much sharper and I liked the way we attacked the ball," commented McDaniel. "Our middles were very active and we got key contributions from people off the bench in the match."
The Bulldogs continue play Saturday with a 1 p.m. match against Texas A&M Corpus Christi and a 7:30 p.m. match against Centenary.
"Tomorrow we will face two teams with heavy outside games," said McDaniel. "We will have to maintain that defensive intensity from tonight and our middles are going to have to work very hard in transition, which has been a focus all season."
