DES MOINES, Iowa – The Eastern Illinois Panthers swept the Drake Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at the 2013 West Des Moines Sheraton Drake Invitational.

The Panthers won the opening set, 25-16, and then took the second set, 25-19, before closing out the victory with a 25-14 decision in the third set to improve to 3-3 on the season. The loss drops the Bulldogs to 1-5 on the year.

Senior outside hitter Amanda Platte (Mount Vernon, Iowa), was the only Drake player to have double digit kills finishing with 12, while hitting .357 with just two attack errors. The Bulldogs played without sophomore middle blocker, Cassie Effken (Lincoln, Neb.), who suffered a leg injury in Friday night's five-set match against DePaul. The injury caused Effken to miss her first-ever career start.

Freshman Tegan LaBerge (Maple Grove, Minn.) started her first career match in Effken's place and had five kills and two blocks. Fellow freshman Katie Allen (Mokena, Ill.) had seven kills and three blocks in her second career start. Sophomore Rebecca Brown (Bentonville, Ark.) recorded 25 assists and four digs.

Eastern Illinois out-paced Drake in kills (54-32), assists (44-30), digs (50-38) and aces (4-1). Drake struggled on offense finishing with a .181 hitting percentage, while Eastern Illinois tallied a .371 hitting percentage.

Drake closes the tournament tonight against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at 7 p.m.  The Jackrabbits (0-5) are in search of their first win.