NORMAL, Ill. – The Drake University volleyball team closed its season in impressive fashion with a 3-1 win at Illinois State on Saturday, Nov. 19, evening.
With the win, the Bulldogs finish the season with back-to-back road wins to give the team 17 wins this season, its most since 2010. Additionally, the Bulldogs' eight Missouri Valley Conference wins are their most since 2010 and the Bulldogs swept Illinois State for the first time since 2009.
"As a team we're ecstatic about how we finished the season against one of the top teams in our conference," said Drake head coach Darrin McBroom. "For us to beat Illinois State on their home court was huge for our team and especially our seniors. They were here when our program was at its lowest but have turned it around into a winning season."
Drake (17-15, 8-10 MVC) hit .260 in the win, including an impressive .347 in the final set with 18 kills to finish the season in style. Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) led the Bulldogs with 18 kills and 19 digs for her 16th double-double of the season. Makena Schoene (Seattle, Wash.) added nine kills in her final game as a Bulldog while Grace Schofield (Mundelein, Ill.) had 12 kills on 33 attempts.
"Kyla had a ton of kills and both right sides, Makena [Schoene] and Nicole Woods had a great night with very low error ratio," McBroom said. "Michelle Thommi had another great night as well with a bunch of digs (17)."
In her second-straight game starting, freshman Elle Tubbs (Clinton, Iowa) had another impressive showing with a team-high eight blocks to give her 17 blocks in the final two games of the season.
Illinois State (16-14, 9-9 MVC) was led by Aly Dawson's 17 kills and 15 digs as one of four Redbirds with double-figure kills.
The opening set was close throughout, but Drake used a late 3-1 run to build a 20-18 lead that it would keep in winning the set, 25-23. Drake kept that momentum in the second set, opening with a 12-4 lead. The Bulldogs extended that lead to 19-9 to cruise to a 25-15 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set saw Illinois State rally to take a 21-11 lead before the Bulldogs started to chip away at that deficit with an 8-2 run to make it 23-19. Drake staved off four-straight set points to pull within two points before the Redbirds finally took the set, 25-22.
Drake returned the favor in the fourth set with a 25-22 win while hitting .347 with 18 kills. The Bulldogs never trailed after taking an 8-7 lead as part of a 6-1 run in methodically taking the set from the Redbirds to win the match, 3-1.
The Bulldogs are slated to return nine players next season and recently signed a group of four talented freshmen set to join the roster in 2017.
