DES MOINES, Iowa. – The Drake volleyball team added another tally to the win column on Saturday evening as it defeated Illinois State, 3-1, giving the Bulldogs their seventh consecutive victory. Drake also moved above .500 with the win improving its overall record to 11-10 on the year.
In the first set of the night Drake used an early 4-0 scoring run to create some separation from the Redbirds and take an 8-4 lead. The Bulldogs maintained their four-point advantage through the middle stages of the set following a
Lisa Melenciano kill, which set the score at 16-12. Drake held strong down the stretch and
Kacia Brown secured the set with a kill, 25-21.
Drake claimed the first three points of the second set getting back-to-back kills from
Bliss Beck and
Macy Daufeldt and that lead eventually stretched out to 10-7 following another Beck kill. The Bulldogs increased their lead further to 14-9 just past the halfway point after
Aniyah Davis smashed down a kill and forced a timeout from the Illinois State bench putting Drake in a comfortable spot. Moments later, the Bulldogs forced another timeout from the Redbirds after taking four of five possible points to go up 19-13. Illinois State did cut the lead for Drake down to two at 24-22 following three straight set points, but Daufeldt scored the set winner, 25-22, to put Drake up two sets.
The third set, however, was controlled by Illinois State as an early 4-0 run gave the Redbirds a 7-3 advantage. Illinois State capitalized off a few errors from the Bulldogs as the set continued and eventually doubled up Drake at the 14-7 mark. With the score sitting at 18-14, that's when Illinois State went into cruise control and won the following seven points to take the set, 25-14.
Illinois State appeared to have the momentum in the beginning stage of the fourth set as well taking a 7-2 lead off a 6-0 scoring spurt, but after Drake reset following a timeout the Bulldogs were back within one point in short order, 11-10. Daufeldt then brought the Bulldogs back even with the Redbirds at 15-15, which sparked some life into the Drake attack. A key 3-0 run from Drake soon after followed and put the Bulldogs ahead, 18-16. Drake never relinquished its lead from the point forward and won the frame off a
Caroline Smith kill, 25-22, and the match, 3-1.
Brown was the lone Bulldog to record a double-double in the match with 14 kills and 10 digs. Her 10 digs also led the team. Daufeldt, meanwhile, came up just shy of a double-double and recorded a team-leading 16 kills and nine digs. Smith also reached double-digits in the kills category with 10 and chipped in on the defensive side with three blocks.
Katie Quick led Drake dishing out 22 assists on the night and
Addison Beagle was right there as well with 21 assists and nine digs.
Next week the Bulldogs will split their pair of matches between the road and at home. Drake first takes on Southern Illinois from Carbondale on Thursday, Oct. 30, and then makes the trek back to Des Moines to host Belmont from the Knapp Center on Saturday, Nov. 1.
