DES MOINES, Iowa. – The Drake volleyball team welcomed in-state rival UNI to the Knapp Center for the regular season finale on Wednesday night in a showdown of the top two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bulldogs put up a competitive fight against the Panthers but fell 3-0 with all three sets coming within four points.
The first set featured a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle between the Bulldogs and Panthers to begin the night. After coming together at 10-10, Drake used a 4-0 run featuring kills by
Macy Daufeldt and
Ashlynn Kuhn to gain the first true advantage of the set at 14-10. UNI had an answer, however, and went on a 4-0 rally of its own to eventually take the lead, 17-16. The two sides traded points down the stretch before coming even again following an error from UNI to make the score 23-23 and forcing a timeout from the Panthers bench. After the timeout, UNI quickly won the next two points on kills from Cassidy Hartman and Lily Dykstra to take the set, 25-23.
Drake and UNI continued the competitive action in the second set when a kill from
Megan Witte for the Bulldogs locked the score at 9-9. The Panthers then gained the lead going on another 4-0 scoring streak that forced Drake to call a timeout. The Panthers extended their lead out to five points at the 20-15 mark through the middle stages as Dykstra added another kill to her stat line, but the Bulldogs fought their way back to draw within one at 22-21 riding the hot hand of Daufeldt. UNI then closed out the period on a 3-0 run to win the set, 25-21 and go up 2-0 on the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs found themselves facing an early deficit to begin the third set falling behind, 6-1. Drake eventually pulled within two at the 12-10 point, but the Panthers proceeded to score four-straight including back-to-back service aces to extend their lead back to six. The Dogs still had some fight in them, however, and took advantage of a couple errors from UNI to make it a one-point contest at 22-21 to force a Panthers timeout. After the break, Drake was able to keep it close, but couldn't complete the comeback as a kill from Kacie Rewets sealed the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-0.
On the offensive end, Daufeldt paced the Bulldogs with 15 kills and was the only Drake player with double-figure kills. Kuhn and Witte were next in line with nine kills and seven kills, respectively. Witte also chipped in defensively with 13 digs. Meanwhile,
Addison Beagle tallied 32 assists on the night and
Jada Wills totaled 21 digs.
Drake owns the No. 2 seed in the MVC Championship, which will take place in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Bulldogs next match will be in the semifinal round on Nov. 25 where they will take on the winner between No. 7 Murray State, No. 6 Valparaiso, or No. 3 UIC.
