DES MOINES, IOWA - In a repeat of last week's encounter, the Drake University volleyball team defeated North Dakota in five sets (25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 19-25, 15-12) to win the Hampton Inn Drake Invitational championship and improve its record to 7-0.
Senior libero Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa) was named Tournament MVP after registering 84 digs in Drake's three matches, including a team-best 28 in the championship tilt against the Fighting Sioux.
"She gave a strong performance all weekend," head coach Phil McDaniel said. "She's the key to our defense and when she's on like that, she's tough to beat."
Senior outside hitter Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa) and junior outside hitter Mikayla Sims (Waterloo, Iowa) were named to the all-tournament team. Bys tallied a team-best 41 kills for the tournament and tied a game high with 16 against the Fighting Sioux. The senior also logged her fourth-straight double-double with 23 digs. Sims notched 22 kills and hit an incredible .391 during the tournament.
Drake outblocked opponents 28-23 over the course of the tournament, led by junior middle blocker Michelle Reidy's (Dubuque, Iowa) 16 total blocks.
"Having Alana in the back row allows us to block differently at times," McDaniel said. "We trust her to cover a lot of the court and it allows us to be a little more aggressive with our blocking."
With the score knotted at nine in the final set, Sims rattled off back-to-back kills to give the Bulldogs a two-point cushion. Three errors by the Fighting Sioux allowed Sims to finish the game with her season-best-tying 10th kill of the match.
"We battled a very tough and gritty team that pushed us about as far as we could go," McDaniel added. "We knew it was going to be a battle from what we learned last week."
Drake improved to 7-0 on the season. North Dakota fell to 6-2 overall - with Drake as its only losses.
"For us to go 7-0 and win our own tournament in front of our home crowd is great," McDaniel said. "It's a very comfortable place to play when we get a crowd to work with."
The Bulldogs meet North Dakota State Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Knapp Center.
