CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Drake volleyball team began its third week of Missouri Valley Conference play on Thursday night with a rematch against in-state rival UNI from the McLeod Center and fought the league leading Panthers to extra points twice, but suffered the loss in straight sets.
The Bulldogs and Panthers traded scoring runs back-and-forth to open the first set of the match first with Drake using a 4-0 burst to go up 6-4, but UNI countered with a 4-0 run of its own moments later to jump ahead 11-9. The Panthers ripped off another 4-0 run over the media timeout that pushed their lead out to 16-11, which eventually stretched to a 20-13 lead. After a timeout by the Bulldogs, Drake rallied itself back into the set with an 8-1 run, highlighted by two
Caroline Smith kills and a pair of blocks from
Kamryn Behrns and
Aniyah Davis, to cut its deficit down to one at the 23-22 mark. The Bulldogs then reclaimed the lead at 25-24 getting back-to-back scores from
Matthea Dalton, but the Panthers closed out the set with a finishing 3-0 run to end it at 27-25.
In the second set, UNI raced out to a 9-3 lead over the Bulldogs and never looked back from there. The Panthers really gained control in the frame with an 8-0 scoring run that set Drake back into a 13-point deficit at the 17-4 mark that was too much for Drake to overcome. The Bulldogs did get some momentum going late with a 3-0 run, including a
Bella Faria service ace, but the Panthers ultimately took the set, 25-13.
Drake leaned on its defense in the beginning of set three as blocks by Dalton and
Bliss Beck and then again by Beck and Smith put the Bulldogs in front, 5-1. The Panthers would stay in striking distance of the Bulldogs as the set progressed through the middle stage, but Drake remained in the lead, 17-12, getting another block from Davis and Smith. The momentum started to turn, however, when UNI pulled within two at the 22-20 mark following a 3-0 run. Soon after, the Panthers pulled in front using four consecutive kills to make the score 25-24. Drake kept the set alive for a couple of points longer with Behrns producing a kill and teaming up with Davis for a combo block, but UNI won back-to-back points to end the match at 28-26.
"We did some good things tonight that allowed us to challenge UNI," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "Unfortunately, we could not keep up with their offensive capacity. I thought we showed some strong development and some good things we can build upon, however."
Smith was the lone Bulldog to reach the double digit kill total in the match as the sophomore recorded 10. Next in line for the Drake attack was Dalton with seven kills. Dishing out the assists were
Carolyn Maser and
Katie Quick who tallied 14 and 12 helpers, respectively. Defensively, Drake totaled nine blocks in the match and Davis had a hand in six of them. Meanwhile,
Jasmine Dulan led the team with 22 digs.
Drake will have one day off before it returns to the court against Indiana State on Saturday from Terre Haute. First serve with the Sycamores is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT.
