IOWA CITY, Iowa – Amanda Platte (Mount Vernon, Iowa) had a career-high 18 kills to lead the Drake University volleyball team to a 3-2 win over Western Illinois in its final match at the Hawkeye Challenge.

Drake (2-9) rallied to win the final two sets of the match (21-25, 29-27, 19-25, 25-20, 15-13) to go 1-3 in the two-day event. In addition to Platte's career day, Capris Quaites (Omaha, Neb.) and Shelby Daum (Battle Creek, Neb.) each had 10 kills while Rebecca Brown (Bentonville, Ark.) engineered the offensive attack with 41 of the team's 49 assists. Daum was named to the all-tournament team after an outstanding performance this weekend.

"I'm proud of the team tonight," said head coach Darrin McBroom. "We battled all match and got great performances out of Shelby and Michelle (Thommi) (Omaha, Neb.). This is a great way to close out the early portion of our schedule heading into conference play."

Western Illinois (4-8) took the first set, 25-21, as the Bulldogs recorded just five kills. Despite hitting -.125, the Bulldogs found themselves ahead, 21-19, late in the set. However, three WIU kills coupled with three Drake errors allowed the Leathernecks to pull out the first-set win.

The Bulldogs didn't let WIU hold on to that momentum as neither team led by more than three points in the second set and the Bulldogs staved off three set points to prevail with a 29-27 victory. With the score 24-21 in favor of WIU, Drake got a kill from Katie Dulek (Lenexa, Kan.) followed by a Quaites ace and Platte kill to tie the set. Later, back-to-back kills from Platte and Daum gave the Bulldogs the two-point, 29-27 cushion.

The third set was just as closely contested early until a 10-5 WIU run gave the squad a 5-point cushion that Drake never could cut into in dropping the set, 25-19.

The Bulldogs rebounded in the fourth set by never trailing en route to a 25-20 win. A 5-1 run keyed by Tegan LaBerge's (Maple Grove, Minn.) serving gave the Bulldogs separation early in the match. With the score 19-17 in favor of Drake, a 4-0 run propelled the Bulldogs past WIU to force a decisive fifth set.

Neither team led by more than two points early in the fifth set and Drake found itself down, 12-11, late in the set to force McBroom to call a critical timeout. The strategy worked as WIU would score just one more point, on a Drake miscue, as the Bulldogs closed the set on a 4-1 run capped by a kill from Platte to secure a 15-13 win in the set and take the match, 3-2.

"We showed great poise tonight in the fifth set," said McBroom. "We overcame two bad serves late and still were able to pull out the 15-13 win."

Drake finished tied for fourth at the tournament as the Bulldogs, Western Illinois and UIC all finished with identical 1-3 records. A set win/loss percentage was used to determine the order of finish.

Saturday's win was the team's final tune-up before beginning Missouri Valley Conference play next Saturday, Sept. 21 at league newcomer Loyola at 7 p.m. A 2 p.m. contest at Bradley the next day completes the first weekend of MVC action for the Bulldogs.