HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The Drake University volleyball team improved to 3-0 to start the season with a pair of wins Saturday, Aug. 25, to win the Sam Houston State Tournament.
The Bulldogs opened the day with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-18 win over Bethune-Cookman followed by a 25-15, 25-15, 25-6 throttling of Texas Southern to earn two more 3-0 sweeps. Friday evening, the Bulldogs handled Sam Houston State, 3-0, to navigate the tournament schedule undefeated.
"We're excited about not giving up a set all weekend which is a positive start to the season," said Drake head coach Darrin McBroom. "Certainly there are things we need to work on but it was a good first weekend and great to win a tournament to open the season."
The Bulldogs hit a combined .235 in Saturday's wins while holding their opponents to just -.040 percent hitting. Kylee Macke (Ankeny, Iowa) led that defensive charge with 25 digs Saturday while the middle tandem of
Elle Tubbs (Clinton, Iowa) and
Gillian Gergen (Janesville, Iowa) combined for 12 blocks.
For her efforts, Tubbs was named the tournament MVP as she finished the weekend with 14 kills on .323 hitting along with 12 blocks and six digs. Macke also earned a spot on the all-tournament team along with Grace Schofield (Mundelein, Ill.). Macke finished the weekend with 44 total digs while Schofield had 23 kills and nine blocks.
Cathryn Cheek (Coppell, Texas) led the offense Saturday with 19 kills in the two three-set matches on .226 hitting.
In the day's final match against Texas Southern, Schofield led the Bulldogs with nine kills in just two sets on .421 hitting while Cheek added eight kills. The Bulldogs' entire roster saw action in the win and the team closed the third set on a 12-1 run to earn the convincing 25-6 decision in the set.
Cheek recorded a double-double in the opening match with 11 kills and 14 digs against Bethune Cookman. Emily Plock (Altoona, Iowa) had nine of her day's 11 kills in the match and hit .389. A 7-1 spurt helped Drake close out the first set, 25-16, in easy fashion and a 7-2 Bulldog run closed the second set by a 25-19 margin. Bethune-Cookman led early in the third set, but Drake used a 9-1 run to take command and never let up in earning a 25-18 victory to secure the three-set win.
The Bulldogs take their perfect record on the road next weekend for the Holy Cross Invitational in Worcester, Mass. There the Bulldogs will have three matches against Holy Cross, Columbia and Rhode Island starting Friday, Aug. 31.
