WICHITA, Kan. - Led by three players in double-figure kills, the Drake University volleyball team forced Wichita State to four sets in a 3-1 loss at the Missouri Valley Conference leaders Friday evening.
Wichita State (20-7, 11-2 MVC) held off the Bulldogs (14-17, 5-9 MVC) by set scores of 25-22, 22-25, 25-15, 25-17.
"I'm really proud of our team. We were playing the top team in the conference at their place and in the first two sets we played exceptionally well," said Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom. "We sided out at 60 percent in the first two sets and hit .333 in the second set."
The Bulldogs' middle blockers had one of their best games of the season as
Katie Allen (Mokena, Ill.) recorded a career high with 10 kills on 21 attempts to hit .381.
Katie Dulek (Lenexa, Kan.) hit .400 with a season-high nine kills. The pair also combined for three of the team's six blocks.
"
Katie Allen and
Katie Dulek in the middle had their best games of the year," McBroom said. "We have not been a middle-dominant offense this season and
tonight our middles lit it up!"
WSU jumped out to an early 12-8 lead in the first set but the Bulldogs trimmed that margin to eventually tie the set at 18-18. Drake fought to the last points until two errors allowed the Shockers to pull away, 25-22.
Drake rolled out to an early 5-3 lead in the second set behind Michelle Thommi's (Omaha, Neb.) serving. Later, Drake forced four-straight WSU errors to take a 14-10 and later extend it to 20-15. A 7-4 WSU run trimmed the margin to two until back-to-back kills from Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) and Allen gave the Bulldogs the 25-22 win. Schoene finished with 11 kills. "We executed everything we had been working on in practice and really outhustling and outworking them in the first two sets," McBroom added.
Drake remained within striking distance in the third set until a three-point deficit expanded to eight at 18-10. The Bulldogs couldn't overcome that deficit and a later 4-0 run helped the Shockers cruise to the 25-15 win.
The fourth set played out in much the same fashion as WSU jumped out to an early lead to again build an 8-point, 18-10, lead. Despite trading points with the Shockers, Drake couldn't cut into the lead in falling, 25-17
"After the break, Wichita State made some changes," McBroom said. "We still played well, but offensively we couldn't get any traction. We executed better in the fourth set and played well defensively, but fell behind early."
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday evening for their final road game of the 2015 season with a 7 p.m. match at Missouri State.
