CHICAGO, Ill. – The Drake volleyball team began its weekend on the road with a match against the UIC Flames on Friday night. Drake continued its stellar start to the conference season and came away from Credit Union 1 Arena with a 3-1 win.
 
In the early goings of the first set the Bulldogs and Flames battled it out coming to a 10-10 stalemate. The first edge that was gained by either team came shortly after that when Drake went on a 3-0 scoring run, featuring two kills from Aniyah Davis, forcing a timeout from UIC. As the set progressed, Drake was able to maintain its lead until a pair of scoring streaks from the Flames knotted the score up at 24-24. The period moved to extra points and that's where the Bulldogs went to Megan Witte as she tallied two kills on the final three points won by Drake to give it the win, 28-26.
 
The Flames got out to a fast start in the second set of the night and took an early advantage, 11-6. Drake responded, however, and was spearheaded by three consecutive kills from Ashlynn Kuhn to even the period at 13-13. That was as close as the Bulldogs would get though, as UIC regained control and took the set, 25-18.
 
The third set saw Drake propel itself to an early lead in part to a couple of scoring streaks, capped off by a service ace from Madison Geise, 9-6. The Bulldogs kept the Flames at arms distance throughout the middle stage of the set and maintained a three or four point advantage as Macy Daufeldt spiked home a kill at the 20-16 mark. To close out the period, Drake went to the combination of Daufeldt and Witte for back-to-back kills and regained the lead in the match taking the set, 25-20.
 
After finding itself in a 5-0 deficit to start the fourth set, Drake rallied back to draw even at 7-7 and eventually took the lead off a 3-0 run, 12-10. A little later in the set Drake went on its largest scoring streak of the night scoring seven-straight to increase its lead to 19-13. The Bulldogs never relinquished their lead from there and took set, 25-19 and the match, 3-1.
 
"UIC is a really good program so to go in there tonight and get a win is a big deal," Drake head coach Darrin McBroom said. "UIC had a couple of strong wins in the non-conference slate and so I think we could have been considered a bit of an underdog tonight. We started out strong and then the match was a little bit up and down, but when we got around to the fourth set, I thought we showed what we were capable of. Megan [Witte] has been playing outstanding and I've been impressed with her efforts. She's been controlling the ball really well and doing everything we need a leader to do. Valparaiso tomorrow is going to be tough, as it always is, but we'll be looking to get another win for sure."
 
Witte led the way for Drake posting a double-double in the match with 19 kills, which led all scorers, and 10 digs. Daufeldt also tallied a double-double on the night recording 11 kills and 12 digs. Daufeldt also had her hand in six total blocks to add to her defensive efforts. Dishing out the assists for the Bulldogs were Addison Beagle and Geise with 24 and 19, respectively. Meanwhile, Jada Wills led all players with 15 digs on the defensive side.
 
The Bulldogs will stay on the road for their next match as they look forward to taking on Valparaiso tomorrow, Oct. 5. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.