BROOKINGS, S.D. - The Drake University volleyball team swept South Dakota State, 3-0, on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to remain unbeaten on the season. The win propelled the Bulldogs to a 5-0 record and their best start to a season since 2010.

The Bulldogs took the match over the Jackrabbits 25-17, 25-21, 25-18, as the team registered 36 kills and held SDSU (0-4) to just .045 percent hitting. Shelby Daum (Battle Creek, Neb.) led the Bulldogs with 11 kills on 23 attempts while Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) recorded nine kills and nine digs. Defensively, Michelle Thommi (Omaha, Neb.) had 12 digs while Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) and Katie Allen (Mokena, Ill.) each had three blocks.

SDSU opened the game with a 3-1 lead thanks to a pair of aces before Thommi's serving keyed a 4-0 run to give the Bulldogs a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the set to win 25-17. Setter Rebecca Brown's (Bentonville, Ark.) serving propelled Drake to a 4-0 lead with two aces in the second set. Brown finished the match with 16 assists. The Bulldogs led comfortably for much of the second set until a 4-0 Jackrabbit run trimmed the margin to one, 19-18.  The Bulldogs never surrendered that lead and outscored SDSU, 6-3, down the stretch to take a 25-21 win.

Midway through the final set, neither team had led by more than three points until a 7-2 run gave Drake a comfortable 20-12 lead. Kills from Daum accounted for the final two points of the run off of Brown's serving. SDSU trimmed that margin to four, but a 4-1 run to end the set via back-to-back aces from Daum secured the Bulldogs second three-set sweep and fifth win of the season.

Following Tuesday evening's single match, the team returns to action this weekend at the Omaha Invitational. Action begins on Friday evening against UCF at 4 p.m. On Saturday, the team faces Omaha at 12:30 p.m. and North Dakota at 4 p.m.