CORALVILLE, Iowa – Drake volleyball began play at the Kwik Star Klassic in its opening match against Saint Louis on Thursday afternoon. The Bulldogs and Billikens battled it out over five sets, but it was Drake that came away with the win, 3-2.
 
In the first set Drake got out to a comfortable lead in the early goings. Already leading in the period 10-7, the Bulldogs used a 4-0 scoring run to increase their lead to 14-7 and forced a timeout from the Billiken bench. Jada Wills highlighted the scoring streak registering back-to-back service aces while Megan Witte added a kill. Drake maintained their lead as the period went on and forced another timeout from Saint Louis at the 23-15 mark following another kill from Witte. A few points later, Aniyah Davis closed out the set for the Bulldogs slamming home a kill to win the period, 25-18.
 
The Bulldogs and Billikens battled back-and-forth in the second set which led to a stalemate at the 10-10 mark following a service ace by Addison Beagle. Drake and Saint Louis continued to trade points as the period progressed, but the Bulldogs gained a slight advantage following an error to go up 18-15. The Billikens immediately answered, however, coming out of a timeout with a 4-0 rally and took the lead 19-18. Down the stretch it remained closely contested between Drake and Saint Louis with neither team gaining momentum. With the period tied at 22-22, the Billikens scored three out of the next four point to win the set and even the match.
 
The third set was controlled by the Bulldogs in the early stages as they grabbed a 12-8 lead after a kill from Macy Daufeldt. A 4-0 scoring run, which saw Bliss Beck contribute on both ends with a block assist and a kill, in the middle stages helped increase Drakes lead 19-12 to provide some breathing room for the Bulldogs. Saint Louis made a late push cutting the score to 24-20, but after a timeout Drake went to the reliable hand of Ashlynn Kuhn for the period winning kill and went up 2-1 in the match.
 
Drake found itself facing an early deficit when the fourth set began falling behind 12-6 in large part due to Saint Louis starting off with a 5-0 run. The Bulldogs continued to battle and eventually pulled within three points at the 19-16 mark to put pressure on the Billikens. Saint Louis started to pull away again going up by five at 23-18, but Drake wouldn't go away. The Bulldogs used a pivotal 4-0 rally to get within one at 23-22, but Saint Louis staved off the comeback and took the next two points to force a fifth and final set.
 
Scoring spurts of 3-0 and 4-0 led Drake to an early advantage in the fifth set as it jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Over those runs the Bulldogs went to the trio of Daufeldt, Kuhn, and Witte for offense and tallied a pair of block assists defensively. The Billikens climbed back into the set, however, and made it a one-point difference at the 10-9 mark. As the match came down to the wire, Drake had three different occasions at match point starting at 14-11, but back-to-back Bulldog errors allowed Saint Louis to pull within one point again. Ultimately, the Bulldogs held on for the victory as an attack error from the Billikens ended the set and secured the win for Drake.

"Today was a bit of an emotional roller coaster of match," Drake head coach Darrin McBroom said. "Credit to Saint Louis. They really tightened down the stretch and made it difficult for us. However, we displayed what we are capable of and I thought we handled the pressure well. I thought we did a really nice job in terms of set-recieve and I think that this was the best performance our middles have had this season. Looking ahead to South Dakota, we've got another tough match on our hands. That is a team that is currently on a hot streak and they have beaten some good teams as of late, so we will have another test tomorrow."
 
A trio of Bulldogs registered double-digit kills in the match as Daufeldt led the way with 18. Witte and Davis, who were next in line, tallied 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Beagle was the main distributor for the Drake offense as dished out 50 assists over the five sets and on the defensive end Jada Wills recorded 39 digs.
 
Next on the docket for Drake in the Kwik Star Klassic will be South Dakota. The Bulldogs and Coyotes will take to the court tomorrow, Sep. 20, at 3 pm for their match.