DES MOINES, IOWA -
With a rousing, five-set (21-25, 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12) victory over Southern
Illinois, the Drake University volleyball team punched its ticket to the State
Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
"It feels good right now," said head coach Phil McDaniel,
who guided Drake to its first back-to-back MVC tournament appearances since
1995-96. "We're not going to sit and think about it too much."
The Drake victory guaranteed at least the sixth seed in
next week's State Farm MVC Tournament. With a win against Evansville Saturday,
the Bulldogs can earn the fifth seed.
Senior libero Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa) added another digs record to her already
impressive list. Wittenburg registered her 699th kill of the season in the
fourth set, breaking UNI libero Ellie Blankenship's single-season MVC record of
698, set last season. Wittenburg finished the night with a game-high 22 digs
and became the first Missouri Valley Conference performer to crack 700 digs in
a single season. Her season total stands at 707, which ranks nationally as the
fifth-highest single season total since the NCAA went to 25-point scoring and
unlimited libero substitutions in 2008.
"Alana [Wittenburg] has worked very hard to get where she
is," McDaniel added. "She's the cog in our wheel."
The victory was Drake's 12th home win of the season, the
most in the history of the program.
Down, 8-7, in the deciding set, Drake went on a 6-1 run
fueled by nifty service by junior setter Caitlin Johnson (Sycamore, Ill.) and four Saluki attacking errors. Johnson logged
her 15th double-double of the season with 32 assists and 16 digs.
Following a Southern Illinois timeout, the Bulldogs
turned a 13-9 lead into a 15-12 win with two kills by senior Alisa DeBerg Roth (Hudson, Iowa).
DeBerg Roth totaled 12 kills in 28 swings and added two block assists.
"We needed to take control of that last set early,"
McDaniel said. "Once we were able to put the pressure on them, we were able to
capitalize."
Senior Angela Bys
(Marion, Iowa) tallied 15 kills to pace Drake. Sophomores Whitney Westrum (Waukee, Iowa) and Emily Heffernen (Dubuque, Iowa) totaled 13 and 11 kills each.
Westrum added 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.
The Bulldogs host Evansville Saturday night at 7 p.m. Six
seniors, Nicole Brown (Appleton, Wis.), Bys, Susan Clausen (Johnston, Iowa),
DeBerg Roth, Emily Sibigtroth (Durand, Ill.) and Wittenburg, will be honored for their
contributions to Drake volleyball.
"I think we'll have a lot of emotion tomorrow night,"
McDaniel said. "We had a great crowd here tonight and I hope they come back tomorrow.
These six seniors have had a tremendous impact on our program."
