TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Drake University volleyball team recorded its 16th win of the season with a 3-1 win at Indiana State on Friday, Nov. 18, evening to sweep the season series from the Sycamores. The Bulldogs claimed the road win by set scores of 25-19, 22-25, 34-32, 25-23.
The win guarantees the Bulldogs a .500 or better record this season and matches last season's win total for the program's most wins since 2010. Freshman Elle Tubbs (Clinton, Iowa) helped push the Bulldogs to victory with a career-high nine kills on 17 attempts and nine blocks. Junior Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) and sophomore Grace Schofield (Mundelein, Ill.) tallied 15 and 14 kills, respectively for the Bulldogs. As a team, the Bulldogs hit .285 while holding Indiana State to just .185 due to Drake's 12 blocks and 86 digs, its second-most in a four-set match this season. Twenty-eight of those digs came from senior Michelle Thommi (Omaha, Neb.).
"I'm really proud of our team for gutting out a really tough win tonight," said Drake head coach Darrin McBroom. "The third and fourth sets were very tough and hard-fought. I'm proud of our team and especially our senior class for getting this win on the road."
The fourth set was tough, very proud of our team and the senior class for getting this win on the road.
Indiana State (10-19, 4-13 MVC) was led by three players with double-figure kills including 16 kills apiece from Bree Spangler and Cassie Kawa. The pair also added 13 and 14 digs, respectively, to record double-doubles.
Drake (16-15, 7-10 MVC) closed the first set on a 6-1 run behind a pair of kills from Tubbs to take the set, 25-19, as the Bulldogs tallied 18 kills in the set. Indiana State never trailed in the second set and held off a late Drake rally to win the set 25-22 and even the match at 1-1.
The third set needed nearly 70 total points before the Bulldogs pulled away, 34-32, with Tubbs recording two of the Bulldogs' final three kills in the set. Earlier, Drake twice faced set point, but kills from Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) kept the Bulldogs alive before they closed the set on a 3-0 run. Schoene finished the match with 14 kills.
"We ran out of substitutions with the extra points and had to have a backrow player playing outside and a setter in the front row with only one hitter," McBroom said. "We basically had three freshmen in the front row to win it for us."
The fourth set was tied midway through at 15-15 before a 7-3 run put the Sycamores up, 22-18. However, the Bulldogs rallied back with a 7-1 run to end the set and take the match, 3-1. Drake assembled that run behind Chandelle Davidson's (Gretna, Neb.) serving with Nicole Woods (St. Charles, Ill.) scoring two of the Bulldogs' final four points on kills to win the match.
Drake concludes its 2016 season on Saturday, Nov. 19, at Illinois State. The team's final match of the season is set to begin at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3.
