BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Drake volleyball team picked up its first win of the season on Saturday afternoon defeating Western Kentucky, who was receiving votes in the national poll, in a five set match, 3-2.
The Bulldogs went to
Macy Daufeldt early in the first set as the West Liberty, Iowa, native recorded three consecutive kills to make the score 3-3. That would be as close as Drake would get for the remainder of the set, however. WKU immediately rattled off a 5-0 run and followed up with a 6-0 run to get Drake in a 20-10 deficit. The Hilltoppers took five of the last six points in the frame to win set one, 25-11.
Drake composed itself in set two and raced out to an early lead, 8-3, due to some attack errors on the part of the Hilltoppers. The Bulldogs saw their lead slip away, however, with WKU going on an 8-1 scoring stretch over the middle phase of the frame to jump in front, 14-12. Drake had to display its composure once again and fought its way back to an even score, 18-18, off an
Aniyah Davis kill. The two sides traded points in the final stages until Drake secured the set with a 3-0 run, capped off by a Daufeldt service ace, to win the frame, 26-24.
The third set played out like the second set with the Bulldogs gaining an early advantage, 9-5, with
Katie Quick registering a service ace. Just like in the second set also, Western Kentucky had a response in the middle stages, and a 6-0 run put the Hilltoppers in the lead at 15-14. The difference this time around was that WKU didn't relinquish its lead once it had it and went on to win the frame, 25-18.
It was another fast start for the Bulldogs to open the fourth set with a 4-0 run propelling them to a 7-2 lead. As the set progressed, WKU pulled within one at the 12-11 mark, but following a service error and an
Emily Lisi kill, Drake gave itself a three-point cushion, 14-11. Western Kentucky wouldn't back down as it pulled to within one point again at 20-19, but the Bulldogs came through with a 3-0 run, with kills by Beck and Daufeldt, to win the frame and force a decisive fifth set.
Drake and Western Kentucky battled it out over the first few points in the fifth set until the Bulldogs pulled away with a 5-0 scoring spurt to set the score at 9-5 and force a timeout by WKU. Beck came up big for the Bulldogs over the scoring run having a hand in each point with three blocks and two kills. Out of the break Drake went on another scoring run, this time a 4-0 run, to extend its lead out to 13-6. The Bulldogs held off the comeback attempt from WKU and the final point was scored off a Hilltopper attack error to end the set at 15-10.
"To come out today and beat the best team here, especially after being on the wrong side of two five-setters yesterday, was really huge for our team and the emotions were celebratory," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "Macy and Bliss both played big parts in the match today having their hand on offense and defense. Bliss went a perfect nine-for-nine on kills and attempts. That's just unreal. We're looking forward to our next tournament down in Florida as we will be challenged there and that's what we want. All of our non-conference tournaments will help us build that consistency we are looking for come conference season."
Daufeldt led the Bulldogs with her third double-double performance in as many matches with 17 kills and 11 digs. She was also named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts.
Kacia Brown was next in line with 11 kills and nine digs, while Beck chipped in on both sides of the net with nine kills and six total blocks.
Addison Beagle and
Katie Quick dished out 24 and 21 assists to aid in the Bulldogs offense attack.
Drake returns to action next week in the 305 Challenge. The Bulldogs first match of the tournament comes on Thursday, September 4 against Atlantic Coast Conference member Miami (FL) at 5 p.m. CT.
