DES MOINES, Iowa. – The Drake volleyball team was back in action for its final Friday night game from the Knapp Center this season as it hosted the Valparaiso Beacons. Drake and Valpo dueled it out over five competitive sets, but the Bulldogs remained perfect on their home floor winning the match, 3-2.
The Bulldogs and the Beacons went back-and-forth to start the first set coming to an 8-8 draw, but that was followed by a 3-0 run from Valpo to give it an 11-8 advantage. Drake countered through the middle stages and eventually took the lead with a 5-0 rally capped by a kill from freshman
Bliss Beck to make the score 17-15. That was the last time Drake led in the set as Valparaiso took advantage of some errors made by the Bulldogs and went on to win, 25-22.
It was a different story for Drake in the second set as it raced out to a seven-point lead at the 9-2 mark after a
Macy Daufeldt score. Daufeldt and the Bulldogs continued to add to their lead when the outside hitter made it 16-4 with a service ace. Valpo cut their deficit to under double digits down the stretch, but the hot hand of Daufeldt secured the set win in the end, 25-16.
The third set returned to more back-and-forth play as a
Thea Rotto kill put the score even at 9-9 in the early goings. A pair of 3-0 runs from the Bulldogs, which featured multiple blocks from Beck and
Ashlynn Kuhn gave Drake some breathing room with a four-point lead and forced Valpo to take a timeout at 17-13. The Beacons tried to make a late push, but the Dogs hung tough and denied the comeback attempt to take the set, 25-22.
Drake used a quick 4-0 run to gain a lead in the beginning of the fourth set, but Valpo fought its way back to even things up at the 10-10 mark. The two sides traded blows through the middle course of the period once again coming to a stalemate after back-to-back kills from Daufeldt and
Madison Geise made it 18-18. A few moments later, Valpo went a 3-0 scoring streak, but Drake battled back to tie it up again at 24-24 as it continued to play through Daufeldt. However, the Beacons managed to go on another 3-0 to win the set, 27-25.
In the decisive fifth set Drake claimed the first two points and then followed with a 5-0 scoring run to gain control early on at 7-2. It wasn't long after that Drake extended its lead out to nine points with a second 5-0 run as Daufeldt continued to rack up the kills with two more in that stretch. The Bulldogs then closed the match out on a kill from Rotto with the final scores 15-6 in the set and 3-2 overall.
Daufeldt had herself a career night totaling 32 kills, which was just three away from the program record, in the match to lead all scorers. On the defensive side, she tallied 14 digs and a pair of blocks.
Megan Witte also recorded a double-double performance with 15 kills and 15 digs.
Addison Beagle and Geise handed out 51 combined assists with Beagle totaling 29 and Geise adding 22, respectively.
Jada Wills recorded 34 digs, while Beck and Kuhn hand their hand in nine blocks and six blocks.
The Bulldogs will close out the weekend tomorrow evening with a home match versus UIC. Tomorrow's match will also be the Senior Day celebration for Drake volleyball.
