The Drake University volleyball team returns to the road this weekend to continue Missouri Valley Conference play after enjoying a four-game homestand. The Bulldogs open up the road series at Loyola on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. followed by an Oct. 15 match at Bradley, also at 7 p.m. Last season, the Bulldogs went 3-1 against those two conference opponents with a season sweep of Bradley.
 
Drake begins the road trip with an 11-9 overall record this season and a 2-4 mark in the MVC. However, of the Bulldogs' first six conference opponents, five are currently in the NCAA RPI top 100 and have an overall 26-10 conference record. Meanwhile, Loyola is 8-11 overall and 3-3 in the MVC and Bradley owns 6-11 and 1-5 records, respectively. Friday's match will be broadcast via The Valley on ESPN3.
 
In their last outing, the Bulldogs' defense Drake's defense managed to slow UNI to hitting just .112, its lowest percentage in Valley play and its second lowest output of the season behind only a .109 mark against Iowa State. However, Drake was equally sluggish offensively in dropping the three-set match with fourth-year head coach Darrin McBroom continuing to express the team's need to generate more efficient offense.
 
One area in which McBroom has been pleased is with the team's defensive improvement at the net. The Bulldogs are currently fifth in the MVC in blocks with 2.0 per set, a stark improvement over last season when the team ranked ninth in the 10-team standings. In last Monday's 3-0 win over Illinois State, the Bulldogs held a 12-5 advantage in blocks, the largest margin the team has recorded during McBroom's tenure, to help the team record its first win over the Redbirds since 2009.
 
Newcomer Kameo Pope (Belle Plaine, Iowa) has led that charge at the net with nearly one block per set while Capris Quaites (Omaha, Neb.) and Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) average more than 0.60 blocks per set, individually.
 
This weekend's matches also have the potential to see a Bulldog reach a significant career milestone. Junior Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) is nearing the 900 mark in both career kills and digs. After recording 20 kills and 20 digs last week, she has 892 kills and 899 digs as a Bulldog.
 
Following this weekend's matches, the Bulldogs return to the Knapp Center to host SIU and Evansville on Oct. 21 and 22.