MURRAY, Ky. – The Drake volleyball team got back in the win column on Halloween with a comeback effort defeating the Murray State Racers on the road in five sets.
The first set of the night went back-and-forth in the early stages as Drake and Murray State matched each other to an 8-8 draw. It was the Bulldogs who a significant lead, however, as a 4-0 run vaulted them ahead 12-9 behind two kills from
Aniyah Davis and a kill and service ace by
Shay McMillen. It was a 6-1 run by the Bulldogs moments later that put them firmly in control of the frame with their lead now extended to 20-13. The Racers started to climb back and made a dent in Drake's lead, but
Caroline Smith delivered the finishing blow at 25-19 to give the Bulldogs the set one win.
A fast start from Murray State to open the second set put Drake in a 5-1 hole early on and the deficit deepened to 10-5 after a 4-0 burst from the Racers soon after. The momentum stayed on Murray State's side as the set moved along and the Racers grabbed a 21-13 advantage after another run. It wasn't much later that the match was evened at one set apiece with Murray winning set two, 25-18.
Drake and Murray State traded a total of six separate stretches of 3-0 runs between the two of them to get the third set started, but it was Murray taking the lead at the 13-11 mark, which forced a timeout from the Drake bench. After Drake tied the frame up at 15-15 off a combination block from
Bliss Beck and
Kamryn Behrns, the Racers immediately countered with an 8-1 run, which set the score at 23-16, and killed any gaining momentum for the Bulldogs.
Matthea Dalton put a pause in the scoring from Murray State with a kill for a brief moment, but the Racers got right back to it with two more kills to close out the set, 25-17.
The fourth set was a close contest all the way through as Drake needed a win to keep the match alive. The Bulldogs held on to the lead early in the frame at 10-8 getting another block by Beck along with
Katie Quick, but it was all even by the time of the media break at 15-15. Following the pause in action, Drake jumped ahead with a key 4-0 run as Davis and McMillen stepped up again to slam home kills and create some separation from the Racers at 19-16. The Bulldogs then won four of the final five points pushing the match to a decisive fifth and final set.
The Bulldogs finally found their rhythm when the fifth set began and after back-to-back kills by Dalton Drake had a 7-4 advantage. Drake maintained its lead despite Murray pulling within two at the 9-7 mark as it responded with a 3-0 spurt to set the score at 12-7 and then it took just three more scores, two of which were kills from Beck and McMillen, to secure the win.
"Very proud of our team for gutting out a win against a strong Murray State squad," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "We threw multiple lineups in tonight to see what would work best to get the win and our team found a way to finish strong."
McMillen paced the Bulldog offense on the night with a team-high 19 kills. She also led the team with three service aces. Drake's middle blockers, Beck and Davis, performed well reaching double digit kills with Davis totaling 11 and Beck going for 10. On the defensive side, Beck led the Bulldogs with four total blocks and
Jasmine Dulan tallied 17 digs. Quick, meanwhile, helped out her teammates with 50 assists.
The Bulldogs will be back in Des Moines next weekend for their last two home games of the regular season. Drake will first host Southern Illinois for Senior Night on Friday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. and then it will be a rematch against the Belmont Bruins on Saturday, Nov. 7 with first serve slated for 5 p.m.
