DES MOINES, Iowa – Sophomore Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) smashed a career-high 20 kills as the Drake Bulldogs lost to the Evansville Purple Aces, 3-1, in a Missouri Valley Conference volleyball match on Saturday night at the Knapp Center in front of 281 fans.

The Purple Aces won by scores of 21-25, 25-22, 25-23 and 25-22 over the Bulldogs as they improve to 7-12 and 3-4 in the MVC on the season. The Bulldogs, who hosted their annual Dig Pink match Saturday night, fall to 9-9 and 1-6 in the MVC.

“We got off to a great start tonight,” said head coach Darrin McBroom. “Overall I think our team played a very strong match. We just have to get a little better at finishing and being consistent throughout the entire match.”

Sophomore Chandelle Davidson (Gretna, Neb.) guided Drake's offense with her second consecutive double-double with 30 assists and 10 digs. Senior Amanda Platte (Mount Vernon, Iowa) just missed her second-straight double-double as Platte recorded 15 kills and eight digs.

Nicole Woods (St. Charles, Ill.) added eight kills and three blocks off the bench for the Bulldogs, while Katie Dulek (Lenexa, Kan.) chipped in a match-high seven blocks along with five kills. Schoene, who started in place of the injured Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa), for the second-straight match added eight digs and two blocks.

“You need players to step up when you have injuries and Makena did that for us tonight,” commented McBroom. “She hit over .400 in the match with 20 kills, and had an outstanding match for us and we are really happy with what she is doing for our program.”

Evansville was led on offense by senior Ashley Ring, who connected for a match-high 26 kills along with 11 digs. Grace Carter tallied a match-leading 63 assists.

For the second consecutive contest, Drake was victorious in the opening set as it edged Evansville, 25-21. Schoene had five kills in the opening frame. The Bulldogs battled accuracy problems in the second set as they hit just .053, but rebounded in the next set with a .419 attack percentage. The squad hit well in set four at .375 and nearly forced a deciding fifth set, but it was unable to slow Ring who smashed six kills in the set to help clinch the match.

The Bulldogs will have three consecutive road contests as they visit Indiana State (Oct. 17), Illinois State (Oct. 18) and UNI (Oct. 25) this month. Drake returns home on Oct. 31 when it hosts Wichita State at 7 p.m. at the Knapp Center.