CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – A tough, experienced Northern Iowa Panthers volleyball team swept the Drake Bulldogs, 3-0, Saturday night at the McLeod Center.

Drake (2-15, 0-5 MVC) was led by a pair of freshmen on offense as Katie Allen (Mokena, Ill.) and Tegan LaBerge (Maple Grove, Minn.) each had seven kills, while LaBerge added five blocks. UNI (11-5, 3-1 MVC) won the match 25-19, 25-17 and 25-19 as Eryca Hingtgen smashed a match-high 14 kills, while Courtney Kintzel added 11 kills.

“Katie and Tegan played well tonight,” said Drake head coach Darrin McBroom. “They went up against talented, experienced players. Another freshman, Samantha Meyers (Grundy Center, Iowa) had a good game in the back for us serving and passing the ball.”

The Panthers took a 7-2 lead early in set one and forced the Bulldogs to call their first timeout. UNI looked like it would cruise to the win as they built a commanding 17-9 lead, but Drake fought back to cut the deficit to 17-14 as UNI called its first timeout. The Bulldogs continued to fight after the break, but the Panthers held on for the 25-19 win. In the opening frame Allen and LaBerge paced Drake's attack with three kills each.

UNI never trailed in set two as Drake took its timeouts trailing, 13-7 and 18-7, respectively. The Panthers went on to take the set, 25-17 as the Bulldogs hit just .077, while committing seven errors.

Kintzel's attack error in set three put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard first before the Panthers raced out to a 10-4 lead. After a Drake timeout, UNI extended its lead to 22-13 as the Bulldogs were forced to burn their final timeout. Following the timeout Drake battled back scoring five of the next six points to cut into UNI's lead, 23-18, which led to the Panthers taking a timeout. Macy Ubben's attack error put Drake closer at 23-19, but UNI won the decisive set with two consecutive points.

“We played well at times tonight,” said McBroom.  “But we dug ourselves into early holes each set and you can't do that against great teams like UNI. I thought though we had some exceptional runs to get back into the match. Just need to be more consistent.”

Sarah Madden (Van Meter, Iowa) finished with a match-high 29 digs for Drake, while Rebecca Brown (Bentonville, Ark.) dished out 23 assists. The Bulldogs played tonight's match without sophomore Cassie Effken (Lincoln, Neb.).

The Bulldogs return to action next Friday, Oct. 11 when they visit Southern Illinois with first serve set for 7 p.m. Live stats will be available at www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com.