PEORIA, Ill. – Drake volleyball was back on the court for a road contest to begin its weekend with a matchup against the Bradley Braves on Friday night. The Bulldogs battled it out over five sets with the Braves, but came away victorious in hard-fought match that saw Jada Wills set a new career-high for digs in a match.
 
The Bulldogs and Braves began the opening set of the match dueling it out over the first few points and came together at a 9-9 draw. Moments later, Drake gained a little bit of separation from Bradley using a 4-0 scoring run to make the score 17-12. The Bulldogs maintained their lead over the Braves down the finish stages of the set and closed it out with back-to-back kills from Ashlynn Kuhn and Macy Daufeldt for the 25-18 win.
 
The second set started out similar to the first with Drake and Bradley matching each other on the scoreboard, but a couple of errors from the Braves gave the Bulldogs a two-point advantage at the 9-7 mark. The Braves pulled within a point shortly after, but the Bulldogs countered with a 4-0 run, featuring two more kills from Daufeldt, to make the score 15-10. After coming out of a media timeout, Drake was controlled the rest of the set and cruised to another win, 25-14.
 
Drake started out the third set with a quick 5-1 advantage after some more errors from the Braves and a kill by Megan Witte. However, the Bulldogs lead slowly diminished as the set moved along. Bradley drew the set even at 9-9 and then the two sides traded blows until coming back even again at 15-15. The momentum turned away from Drake after the Bulldogs took a timeout and the Braves went on a 5-0 rally to seize control and ultimately claim the period, 25-19.
 
In the fourth, Drake fell behind early and faced a 9-5 deficit with the Braves still using their momentum from their third set victory. The Bulldogs eventually fought their way back using a 5-0 run to even things up at 11-11. Bradley had an immediate answer, though and went on a 5-0 rally of its own to regain its lead. The Braves never relinquished the lead the rest of the way and tied the match at two sets apiece with a 25-18 win.
 
The fifth and final set between the Bulldogs and the Braves proved to be a competitive one. Drake quickly gained an advantage going up 5-2 after Daufeldt added another kill to her stat line, but the Braves wouldn't go away. Following a 4-0 scoring run, Bradley took the lead from the Bulldogs at 9-7. The back-and-forth action continued, and the period came even again at 12-12 after Kuhn smashed home a kill. Bradley took the next point, but the Bulldogs stayed resilient and delivered a 3-0 run with a solo block from Daufeldt to cap things off and secure the set, 15-13, and the match, 3-2.
 
"Credit to Bradley as they really came to play tonight," Drake head coach Darrin McBroom said. "They really pushed back hard after we won the first two sets, and they caught us a little flat-footed in sets three and four. However, I also have to give credit to our players for not letting this one slip away from us and finding a way to win."
 
Drake received another double-double performance from Daufeldt on the night as she led all scorers with 24 kills to go along with 17 digs. Witte also recorded a double-double for the Bulldogs with 10 kills and 20 digs, respectively. Addison Beagle led the Bulldogs in assists with 25 and Madison Geise also contributed with 16. Wills had a career-night posting 45 digs en route to eclipsing her previous career-high of 40 digs which she had achieved twice this season.
 
The Bulldogs will be back in action tomorrow evening as they head over to Normal, Illinois for a contest against Illinois State. First serve with the Redbirds is scheduled for 5 p.m.