IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Drake University volleyball team ended the first day of the Hawkeye Challenge with a 3-1 win over Gardner-Webb after dropping its morning match to Coastal Carolina, 3-0.

With the split, the Bulldogs stand at 8-7 on the season heading into their final two matches of the Hawkeye Challenge against Gardner-Webb again and Iowa. Junior Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) led the Bulldogs on the day with 23 kills while freshman Grace Schofield (Mundelein, Ill.) added 21 kills in the two games. Schofield also teamed with Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) to lead Drake with 31 digs each. Rebecca Brown (Bentonville, Ill.) handled the majority of the setting duties on the day and finished with 52 assists in the two matches.

Following the morning's sweep, the Bulldogs suffered a 25-22 loss in the first set against Gardner-Webb before rallying to take the next three sets by identical scores of 26-24. Schofield had 13 of her kills in that match. Drake opened the second set with a substantial 12-2 lead before a 21-11 run allowed GWU to tie the set at 23-23. Back-to-back kills from Inderski and Katie Allen (Mokena, Ill.) gave Drake the two-points needed to claim the set.

The third set also saw Drake lead early until a 7-1 GWU spurt tied the match at 24-24. A GWU error and Kill from Schoene sealed the Bulldog win. In the deciding fourth set, neither team led by more than two points and Drake faced a set point at 22-24 until a kill from Schoene pulled the team within one point, 23-24, and then Inderski's serving forced three-straight GWU errors to give Drake its eighth win of the season.

In the morning match against Coastal Carolina, Drake was outhit, .327-.054, in falling by scores of 28-26, 25-19, 25-11. Schoene had 11 kills in the loss while Inderski had 12 of the team's 49 digs. The Bulldogs led late in the first set, but CCU scored three-straight points off of a kill and two aces to take a 1-0 lead and then use big runs to cruise through the final two sets.

The Bulldogs close out the Hawkeye Challenge on Saturday with a pair of matches against Gardner-Webb at 9 a.m. and the finale against Iowa ta 3:30 p.m. The two matches are Drake's final non-conference tests before beginning Missouri Valley Conference play next weekend.