MACOMB, Ill. – The Drake University volleyball team captured the Hampton Inn Leatherneck Invitational championship on Saturday with a pair of wins to go 4-0 on the weekend to open the season.

Following two wins on Friday, the Bulldogs returned Saturday to defeat host Western Illinois, 3-0, and Akron, 3-2, to lay claim to the tourney title and the team's first 4-0 start since the 2010 season.

“This was a good start to the season,” Drake head coach Darrin McBroom said. “We certainly weren't perfect and have a lot to work on, but when we needed to get it done, we got it done this weekend. It was a great test to our mental toughness to win two of our matches this weekend in five sets.”

In addition to the team title, sophomore Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) was named the tournament Most Valuable Player while Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) and Katie Dulek (Lenexa, Kan.) were named to the all-tournament team.

“But this was a total team effort,” McBroom said. “We easily had the loudest and most engaged team this weekend and that had a huge motivational impact on each match.”

By virtue of winning their first three matches, the Bulldogs had already secured the tournament title but didn't rest on their laurels in the tournament finale against Akron. The Bulldogs took two of the first three sets before stumbling in the fourth set, 18-25, to force a pivotal fifth set.

Drake responded to the challenge in the final set by scoring seven unanswered points to prevail, 15-8. Dulek held serve for the Bulldogs final six points of the set with Schoene contributing three kills to down the Zips.

“Whenever she's serving, there's just some magic on the court and we get it done and score,” McBroom said of Dulek's serves.

Schoene finished the evening match with 21 kills on 49 attempts while Inderski added 17 kills and 21 digs.

The Bulldogs opened the day by handling Western Illinois in a match that lasted less than 90 minutes and saw the Bulldogs briefly trail just four times in defeating WIU, 25-17, 25-22, 25-16. Schoene recorded 12 kills while Inderski had 10 kills on 19 attacks along with a team-high 10 digs. As a team, the Bulldogs hit .364 in the win including a .385 performance in the third set with just one error.

Drake never trailed in the opening set and Katie Dulek's serves closed out the set again as she helped deliver three of the Bulldogs final four points to register the 25-17 win. The second set was much more competitive as neither team ever led by more than five points and there was never more than three points of separation after WIU pulled within two, 15-12. Back-to-back kills from Schoene secured the win off passes from Brown, who finished the match with  14 assist.

The Bulldogs reasserted control of the match in the third set, finishing on a 12-2 run to cruise to the 25-16 win. Dulek registered four kills during that run as Brown held serve to extend Drake's lead from two to seven points during that span. 

The team returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 1 with a 6 p.m. match at South Dakota State. Sept. 4-5 the squad will compete at the Omaha Invitational with games against UCF, Omaha and North Dakota.