DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake volleyball team concluded its home opening weekend with a conference match versus Southern Illinois and Saturday evening. The Bulldogs followed up their Friday night sweep with another, taking down the Salukis in straight sets.
 
It was a fast start for the Bulldogs in the first set as an early 4-0 scoring streak propelled them to a 7-2 lead. The Salukis answered right back, however, and eventually took over lead at the 12-11 mark. The two squads traded points back-and-forth for a bit before Drake went on a roll with a 5-0 rally capped by an Aniyah Davis kill and a Madison Geise service ace to put the score at 19-14. Down to set point SIU rallied off three straight scores following back-to-back service aces, which forced Drake to take a timeout, but after the timeout the Bulldogs defense stepped up and secured the winning point at 25-21 on block assists from Bliss Beck and Megan Witte.
 
Set two started out evenly between the Bulldogs and the Salukis until Drake tore off a 5-0 scoring run, featuring three consecutive kills from Witte and Beck, to go up 13-10. The Bulldogs found their groove from that moment on and proceeded to win five of the next seven points to further increase their lead. With plenty of breathing room Drake went on to cruise to another set victory, 25-19.
 
The third set featured another competitive start as Drake and SIU reached a stalemate at 10-10. As the period moved along neither team gained an edge until Drake put together another scoring run, this time of 4-0, highlighted on back-to-back service aces from Macy Daufeldt. The Bulldogs held the Salukis at bay the rest of the way and rattled off three straight scores to win the set, 25-18, and the match, 3-0.
 
"The goal in the Valley and the challenge is to try and win two matches on back-to-back nights," Drake head coach Darrin McBroom said. "A lot of teams can win one, but to try and put it all together on back-to-back nights is a challenge we face every weekend. To get that done this weekend without dropping a set is key. It's great to get the wins at home with so many fans. It's really special to have a quality product in our team to put on the court and have people come in and be able to see what we're doing here and celebrate with us."
 
Witte was the offensive leader tonight as she led all scorers with 15 kills and added 10 digs to be the only player on either side to record a double-double. Daufeldt added 11 kills of her own to go along with four total blocks and Ashlynn Kuhn was on the attack providing seven kills and a pair of service aces. Addison Beagle and Geise equally distributed 17 assists each in the match and Jada Wills tallied the most digs with 25.
 
The Bulldogs will be on the road for their next pair of matches as they are scheduled to take on UIC (Oct. 4) and Valparaiso (Oct. 5) next weekend.