DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake University volleyball team dropped a back-and-forth affair to No. 12 UNI Friday night at the Knapp Center. Game scores were 19-25, 25-21, 16-25, 23-25.

The Bulldogs (6-15, 2-6) joined Illinois State and Wichita State as the only Missouri Valley Conference teams to take a set from the Panthers. Drake won game two, 25-21, behind seven kills from junior outside hitter Whitney Westrum (Waukee, Iowa/Waukee).

"We talk about putting our hard hats on and working hard," said head coach Tony Sunga, "and that's truly what happened tonight. We weren't intimidated, we were ready to play."

Westrum and sophomore Stacie Hansen (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southwest) led Drake with 11 kills each. Westrum added 18 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Hansen tallied a dig and two total blocks and hit a game-high .296 from the floor.

Senior Caitlin Johnson (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) notched 19 assists and eight digs but split time as Drake's primary setter with freshman Halli Meyer (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf). The change, Sunga said, was intended to improve Drake's offense, which had struggled during the team's last three matches.

"We were preparing a different way on Wednesday and came up with this way, just by people playing hard," Sunga said. "We needed more offense, and we got it."

Two-time defending MVC Player of the Year Bre Payton led UNI with 41 assists, 13 digs and nine kills, finishing just one kill shy of a triple-double. Megan Lehman led the Panthers with 14 kills.

Trailing, 21-16 in game four, the Bulldogs rallied and nearly forced UNI to a decisive game five. With Westrum serving, Drake pulled off three-straight points behind kills from junior Bentley Mancini (Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley) and freshman Erin Roggenburg (Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny). Drake rallied to trail by just one, 22-21, but fell on a kill by Lehman to end the contest.

"We didn't do anything different tonight than what we did in practice," Sunga said. "We did what we were supposed to do, stayed in system when we were supposed to. The difference was just a few plays here and there."

Drake hosts Bradley Saturday at 7 p.m.