DES MOINES, Iowa. – The Drake volleyball team began its second straight weekend at home with a 3-1 victory over the Bradley Braves on Friday night. The Knapp Center faithful had plenty to cheer for as a resilient Bulldog squad earned their second Missouri Valley Conference win of the year.
In the first set of the night, Bradley had the early advantage over the Bulldogs following a 4-0 scoring run that pushed the score to 7-5. Another 4-0 run shortly after from Bradley saw the deficit grow larger for Drake with the score now at 11-6. However, the Bulldogs responded with a run of their own and evened the frame back up at 11-11. During that span, Drake got the job done with its defense using three blocks, and
Aniyah Davis had a hand in all of them. The two sides went on to trade points back-and-forth until Bradley went up 21-20 after back-to-back service aces, which forced a timeout from the Bulldog bench. After the break, Drake pulled ahead, 24-22, as
Emily Lisi secured two consecutive kills and earned a set point. Unfortunately, the set victory never came for Drake as the Braves rattled off four straight points to win the frame, 26-24.
The second set started out like the first with Bradley grabbing an early 9-4 lead. As the set progressed, Bradley held its lead over Drake but only by one at the 14-13 mark after a kill from
Bliss Beck. Moments later, the Bulldogs took their first lead of the frame using their defense to cap off a 4-0 run with a combo block by Davis and
Kacia Brown to make the score 19-18. A kill by Lisi gave Drake a two point advantage at the 22-20 mark and the Bulldogs held firm from there to win the set, 25-22.
The Bulldogs were up early 4-1 to start the third set, but a 6-0 scoring spurt from the Braves flipped the score in favor of Bradley, 7-4. Drake had an immediate response, however, and retook the lead with a 6-0 run of its own. That run by the Bulldogs put the score at 10-7 and saw Davis secure a pair of service aces. Over the middle stages of the frame, Drake stayed in its groove and ripped off another 6-0 run to increase its lead to 17-12. It was all Drake the rest of the way as it cruised to a 25-15 win concluding with a
Caroline Smith kill.
In set four, the Braves were out to another quick start over the Bulldogs, 7-3. Drake quickly battled back to knot the score at 8-8 as
Macy Daufeldt started the charge with a kill, but a 5-0 run from Bradley put the Braves back out ahead 13-8. With the score sitting at 20-16 in favor of Bradley, the Bulldogs finally broke through and used a momentum changing 7-0 run to take over the lead and go up 23-20. Over that run the Bulldogs fed the hot hand of Lisi as she tallied four kills in that span to help Drake climb ahead. Bradley did cut the Drake lead down to one at 23-22, but the Bulldogs countered with back-to-back kills from Beck and Lisi to close out the set, 25-22, and the match, 3-1.
"On paper the numbers look pretty good, so you have to give the team credit," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "We had six hitters all hit above .200 tonight. We won the blocking battle and the ace battle and hitting, so we did pretty well in that regard. There are some things we have to work on. We're not there yet, but we played a pretty good match against a very good team. Bradley can be really a tough team to play against. Proud of how we settled in and finished strong."
Brown paced the Bulldogs both offensively and defensively recording team-highs in kills, 23, and digs, 17. She also added three blocks to her defensive state line as well. Daufeldt chipped in with another double-double performance totaling 13 kills and 14 digs. For Lisi, she recorded a career-high 13 kills.
Addison Beagle led the squad with 27 assists on the night to go along with nine digs. Meanwhile,
Katie Quick added 22 assists and six digs.
Drake returns to the court tomorrow with a match against Evansville from the Knapp Center. First serve against the Purple Aces is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT.
