NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Drake volleyball was back on the court as it took a trip to the Music City for a contest with the Belmont Bruins on Friday night. The Bulldogs took care of business on their way to their fifth consecutive win with a sweep of the Bruins.
 
It was a competitive start for the Bulldogs in the opening set as they traded points back-and-forth with the Bruins all the way to a 12-12 stalemate. Belmont then proceeded to take a slight lead winning five of the next six points and forced Drake to take a timeout. After the reset, the Bulldogs locked in and eventually jumped in front using a 5-0 rally, capped by back-to-back service aces from Addison Beagle, 20-19. Following a Belmont score, Drake again went on a 5-0 run to close out the set, 25-20.
 
After dropping the first three points in the second set, Drake battled its way back to even at the 8-8 mark with a kill from Claudia Aschenbrenner. The Bulldogs never trailed from that moment on as they increased their lead to 21-17 off a Megan Witte kill. Drake went on another set closing run, this time 3-0, to take a commanding lead in the match winning the second set, 25-18.
 
The third set was completely dominated by Drake as it went on a blistering 12-0 run to open the period. The Bulldogs cruised the rest of the way expanding their lead to 21-4 courtesy of a kill from Thea Rotto and eventually won the set off a Bruins service error, 25-8 giving them the match as well, 3-0.
 
"Belmont really came out and challenged us in the first set, but luckily our players made the right adjustments and rallied at the end to avoid dropping the first set," Drake head coach Darrin McBroom said. "Tonight was a complete team win as everyone who played provided. Addison served strongly tonight, Claudia came in and hit over .400, and I was pleased to see how we responded from the tough first set. Tomorrow night against Murray State is going to take everything we've got as they are really good and our last two matches with them have gone to five sets."
 
As a team, Drake hit at a clip of .313 in the match and was led individually by Witte with 11 kills and eight digs. Macy Daufeldt and Ashlynn Kuhn were not far behind Witte each tallying nine kills. Beagle totaled 16 assists on the night and added four service aces to her stat line, while Madison Geise also provided 13 assists. Bliss Beck and Jada Wills provided the defense with Beck recording six blocks and Wills racking up 17 digs.
 
Drake returns to action tomorrow night with another road contest against the Murray State Racers.