CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Drake University volleyball team suffered just its second Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season with a 3-0 setback at No. 25 UNI Tuesday, Oct. 17, evening at the McLeod Center.
The Panthers hit .355 in the win to move past Drake into sole possession of second place in the MVC standings by set scores of 25-14, 25-17, 25-15. Drake (18-5, 7-2 MVC) was led by freshman middle blockers Natalie Fry (Allen, Texas) and Gillian Gergen (Janesville, Iowa) with six kills apiece. Gergen, the reigning MVC Freshman Player of Week added three blocks at the net.
UNI (18-5, 8-1 MVC) was paced by Bri Weber's 21 kills on 38 attempts while three other Panthers recorded double figures in kills and four hit .290 or better.
"We've made a lot of progress as a program, but tonight showed we still have a lot of work to do," said Drake head coach Darrin McBroom. "UNI is a top 25 program and we're not there yet. This is always a tough place to play and we knew that UNI would be an incredibly difficult opponent as always.
The Bulldogs fell behind early, facing an 11-5 deficit in the first set and never cut into that margin as the Panthers hit .528 in the opening set to take a 25-14 win. A 6-0 run keyed by Bri Weber's serving helped UNI take a 7-2 lead to open the second set. However, after taking a timeout to regroup, the Bulldogs rattled off a 7-2 run with a pair of aces to tie the match at 9-9. The team's swapped points immediately after before UNI started to slowly pull away to take the set, 25-17, and a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
Following the break, the Bulldogs took a 5-3 lead to open the set, but UNI answered with four-straight points to retake the lead. Minutes later, Drake jumped ahead with a 10-9 advantage, but nine-straight UNI points followed as the Bulldogs could not break Taylor Hedges serving.
The Bulldogs came into the match ranked in the top five in the nation in digs and were led Tuesday night by Kyla Inderski's (Urbandale, Iowa) 13 digs while two others had seven or more digs.
"We didn't set out to become a defensive team, but that's sort of what we've become," McBroom said. "It didn't show tonight, but defensively we're No. 1 in the league in opponent hitting percentage and ranked high in blocking. That's allowed us to keep ourselves in rallies and score in long rallies. That's paid off a lot this season, but not tonight."
The Bulldogs return to the Knapp Center to try to bolster their position in the MVC standings with matches against Valparaiso and Loyola on the docket for Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts. Drake enters those matches having won 11 of its last 13 outings and has already recorded the program's most wins in a season since 2010.
"It's been a huge morale boost and identity shift for the program," McBroom said of the team's success to date. "We realize we've done well, but there's still another step we need to take every day. We're not fully where we need to be, but our team believes in what we're doing and it is fun."
