The Drake University volleyball team closes its 2015 season this weekend with a homestand against Loyola and Bradley. Friday's match against Loyola is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. with Saturday's contest versus Bradley beginning at 3 p.m. Both will be broadcast via The Valley On ESPN3.
Saturday's match against Bradley is part of a busy day on campus as the football team hosts Dayton at 1 p.m. while men's basketball plays UMKC at 7 p.m. The Drake athletic ticket office is offering fans who attend either the football or volleyball matches the opportunity to redeem their ticket stub for a $5 ticket to the men's basketball game.
Prior to the start of Saturday's season finale against Bradley, the Bulldogs will honor its seniors in Katie Allen, Katie Dulek, Rebecca Brown, Scarlett Howerter, Shelby Daum and Cassie Effken.
Those seniors have been instrumental in helping lay the foundation for the rebuilding of the program. Heading into the final weekend of the season, the team has amassed its most wins since the 2010 season with a 14-19 overall record and a 5-11 MVC mark, setting the table for future success.
Earlier in the season, the Bulldogs defeated both of this weekend's opponents on the road. On Aug. 28, the Bulldogs rallied from an early deficit to beat the Ramblers, 3-1. Two weeks later, Drake earned a 3-1 win at Bradley. Freshman Grace Schofield led the Bulldogs in those wins with 26 combined kills.
Loyola travels to Des Moines with a 19-10 overall record and an 8-8 conference mark to clinch the final MVC Tournament berth. Bradley is 6-22 this season and like Drake, has been eliminated from the postseason.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 3-2 loss to UNI in their last outing. Kyla Inderski led Drake in that outing with 13 kills and 14 digs for her 14th double-double of the season. Drake also matched a season-high with 79 digs. Thirty of those came from Michelle Thommi who matched her career high with 30.
While this weekend marks the end of the season and the careers of the team's seniors, the future looks bright for the Bulldogs as players responsible for 74.4 percent of the team's kills are slated to return in 2016. Additionally, 54.8 percent of the team's assists and 80.1 percent of its digs are due back as are the team's leaders in kills (Makena Schoene), digs (Michelle Thommi) and aces (Chandelle Davidson).
