DES MOINES,
IOWA -- The Drake University volleyball team made its parents' night crowd
nervous, but pulled out a 3-2 (22-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-17, 16-14) victory over
Indiana State Saturday at the Knapp Center.
The Bulldogs dropped the first set and came back to win for just the
fourth time this season. Drake rebounded in the second set due in large part to
seniors Mikayla Sims (Waterloo,
Iowa) and Alisa DeBerg Roth (Hudson,
Iowa) combining for eight kills and the defense holding Indiana State to an
.062 attack percentage.
"We made a couple defensive adjustments that helped us out a little
bit," said head coach Phil McDaniel.
"They had a couple attackers that we had a hard time slowing down tonight, but
once we got them out-of-system, we were able to control the middle a bit more."
After tying a Drake single-game record with 39 digs Friday night against
Illinois State, senior libero Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa) tallied a match-high 22 digs and fell just five
short of breaking her own single-season digs record of 633. Wittenburg's
dig total stands at 629 on the season.
Offensively, the Bulldogs had four players tally double-digit kill
numbers, led by senior Angela Bys
(Marion, Iowa) with 19. Sims and DeBerg Roth tallied 10 and 15, respectively
with DeBerg Roth's total representing a season-high. The senior also tied
sophomore Emily Heffernen
(Manchester, Iowa) for the match-high with five block assists.
"She (DeBerg Roth) did a great job at the net for us all
night," said McDaniel. "She definitely had a great match."
Sophomore Whitney Westrum
notched her sixth-straight double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs. Westrum
also had Drake's only two solo blocks of the night and helped the Bulldogs to a 9-4
advantage in the team blocks department.
"She brings a good deal of energy to our squad," McDaniel said. "She's
such a quick athlete that she's able to cover a lot of ground in the back row
for us."
Drake hit .348 on the night with just 14 attack errors to Indiana
State's 21. DeBerg Roth led the Bulldogs with a .448 mark.
"I love what we did offensively," McDaniel added. "We were aggressive.
To only make 14 errors in 164 swings is pretty efficient."
The Bulldogs improved to 21-7 overall and 6-7 in the MVC. Indiana State
fell to 9-17 overall and 1-12 in MVC play.
Drake travels to Missouri State on Friday (Nov. 5) to take on the Bears
in a 7 p.m. matchup.
