NORMAL, Ill. – The Drake University volleyball team swept Illinois State, 3-0, to extend its lead over the Redbirds in the Missouri Valley Conference standings Saturday evening at Redbird Arena.
 
Drake claimed its 21^st win of the season by set scores of 25-20, 26-24, 25-19 while hitting .221. Cathryn Cheek (Coppell, Texas) and Kyla Inderski (Urbandale, Iowa) again led Drake (21-6, 10-3 MVC) in the win, which stretched the Bulldogs' lead over Illinois State (15-11, 8-5 MVC) for third place in the MVC standings to two matches. Cheek finished with 12 kills, 11 digs and five blocks while Inderski had 11 kills and seven digs.
 
Defensively, Drake held Illinois State to .122 hitting, the Redbirds' second-lowest percentage of the season and lowest in MVC play. In addition to Cheek's efforts at the net, freshman Natalie Fry (Allen, Texas) also had five blocks while five Bulldogs registered double-figures in digs.
 
The Bulldogs continued to show tremendous resilience on the road in coming from behind to take the first two sets before leading for most of the third set to earn Drake's 13^th road/neutral site win of the season and 12^th 3-0 sweep of the year.
 
"I'm proud of our team tonight and way we never gave up tonight," said Drake head coach Darrin McBroom. "They played scrappy and kept themselves in every set which allowed us to find a way to come from behind to win the first two set. It was also a huge win for us to get our 10th conference win of the season and we're looking forward to getting back home and getting ready for another conference weekend."
 
Illinois State was led by Jaelyn Keene's 12 kills on 38 attempts while Courtney Pence had 29 digs in the Redbirds' fourth-straight loss to the Bulldogs.
 
The Bulldogs faced a two-point deficit midway through the first set before closing on an 8-2 run to take the set, 25-20, on with three of the Bulldogs' final four points coming via Inderski kills as the Bulldogs hit .353 to open the match.
 
Drake polished off the second set in similar fashion with an 8-4 run to take a 26-24 advantage into intermission. Drake faced a seven-point deficit midway through the set before rallying to tie the match at 20-20 en route pushing past the Redbirds. Drake won the set on three-straight kills from Fry, Grace Schofield (Mundelein, Ill.) and Cheek to take a 2-0 advantage in the match. Schofield's kill was her sixth of the night on just 10 attempts.
 
The Bulldogs return to action at the Knapp Center next weekend to host Indiana State and Evansville. The Bulldogs host Indiana State Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. followed by a Nov. 4 match against Evansville at 7 p.m. in the Knapp Center.