PEORIA, Ill. – The Bradley Braves knocked off the Drake Bulldogs, 3-1, in Missouri Valley Conference volleyball action Saturday (Nov. 22) at Renaissance Coliseum.

In her final match in the Blue and the White, senior Amanda Platte (Mount Vernon, Iowa) recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) led Drake with 13 kills, while freshman Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) added 11 kills.

Bradley won by scores of 25-15, 25-27, 27-25 and 25-23 to improve to 2-26 on the season and 2-16 in the MVC. The loss drops Drake to 11-18 overall and 3-15 in the MVC. Saturday night's matchup was the final contest of the year for each team.

“I commend Bradley on tonight's win,” said head coach Darrin McBroom. “They needed a win and came to play. Unfortunately we just couldn't put it all together at the crucial times tonight.”

Bradley raced to leads of 12-7 and 18-11 in the opening set as Drake failed to generate an offensive attack having just nine kills, as the Braves breezed to a 25-15 win.

Set two was back-and-forth as Drake called its first timeout with the score 10-10 and its final timeout with the score at 15-15. After the timeout, the teams swapped points as the score was 20-20 as Bradley burned its first timeout. The Braves would later lead 24-21 before the Bulldogs rallied to win in extras by a score of 27-25.

The third set was another competitive frame that featured 16 score ties and six lead changes. This time it was Bradley, who grabbed an extras victory as the Braves held on to win by a score of 27-25.

In the fourth set, Drake trailed just once before Bradley mounted a match-clinching rally. The Bulldogs led 19-16 before the Braves stormed back to even the score at 20-20. Drake scored two straight points to move ahead 22-20, but Bradley rallied back to close out the set and the match by scoring five of the next six points.

Sophomore setter Chandelle Davidson (Gretna, Neb.) tallied a double-double with 28 assists and 10 digs. Sophmore libero Michelle Thommi (Omaha, Neb.) finished with 13 digs.

“I'm really proud of our team this season,” McBroom said. “They accomplished many things and elevated this program and moved it forward. We were young and inexperienced so we had that one step forward, two steps back performance at times.”

Drake finished 2014 with the most wins in a season since the 2010 team posted a sterling 23-11 overall record. The Bulldogs won more matches this season than the last two seasons combined (7). Drake is projected to return a roster of four seniors, six juniors, five sophomores and two incoming freshmen for the 2015 campaign.

“I'm excited for this young team to get to next season,” McBroom said. “They were able to have some tremendous success this year when it was not always expected. Now we need to take that hunger and channel that to next year to achieve more success and continue this momentum in the direction we want to have with this program.”