CEDAR FALLS, Iowa. – The Drake volleyball team began its quest for the MVC Tournament Championship on Monday night as they took on UIC from the McLeod Center. However, the No. 3 seed Flames ultimately got the better of the No. 2 seed Bulldogs in a 3-0 defeat.
The Bulldogs faced an early deficit in the first set as the Flames used a 5-0 run to grab an 8-4 advantage. Drake had an answer, however, and countered with a 5-0 run of its own, featuring a pair of service aces from Macy Daufeldt, to jump ahead, 12-9. The two sides traded blows through the middle stages of the set eventually coming together at 20-20 following a score from Bliss Beck. The Bulldogs reached set point as a 3-0 scoring streak gave them a 24-23 lead, but UIC responded with its 3-0 rally to win the set, 26-24.
It was all UIC in the second set of the match as the Flames went on an 8-0 run early on to make the score 11-2. As the set progressed, Drake tried to make a dent in the UIC lead going to Daufeldt on the offensive end, but the Flames still held the advantage. A kill from Zahria Woodard eventually brought the set to a close, 25-15.
The third set saw plenty of back-and-forth action between the Bulldogs and Flames as Drake tried to force a fourth set. Neither squad gained an edge up to the media timeout, but it was UIC leading 15-14 after a service ace from Cleo Lorenzo occurred just before the break. The Flames went on a pivotal 3-0 run shortly after to gain a little bit of separation from the Bulldogs and never relinquished the lead from there as they went on to win the set, 25-20 and the match, 3-0.
Daufeldt paced Drake with another double-double performance on the year with 14 kills and 11 digs. Megan Witte was one dig shy of a double-double finishing her night with 10 kills and nine digs. Next in line on the offensive side for Drake were Ashlynn Kuhn and Beck with nine and seven kills, respectively. Addison Beagle also dished out 38 assists in the match.
Defensively, Jada Wills led Drake with 17 digs and Aniyah Davis provided three total blocks.
"We knew tonight was going to be a tough, contested match," Drake head coach Darrin McBroom said. "We've played better games in the past against UIC and tonight we just didn't play our best. Credit to UIC because I thought they played their best match of the season, and it really is difficult to beat a team three times in a row. Overall, I'm proud of our athletes and seniors. We came into this season suffering big losses from our seniors who graduated a year ago and we had lots to make up. I think we proved that we were still a really great team despite those losses and that led to another great season."
The Bulldogs season concludes with an overall record of 20-10 and a mark of 16-2 in conference play. Drake also defended its home court over the course of the 2024 season going 8-1 at the Knapp Center.
