KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Drake volleyball team took to the court at the Kansas City Klassic on Friday afternoon for a pair of contests against Utah Valley and Radford and took down both opponents in straight sets for a perfect doubleheader outing.
AGAINST UTAH VALLEY
The Bulldogs were off to a hot start in their first set against the Wolverines and raced out to a 7-3 advantage following a 4-0 run getting help off a couple of Utah Valley attack errors and kills by
Bliss Beck and
Lisa Melenciano. A service error from the Wolverines moments later made the score the 15-10 with the Bulldogs still holding strong to their lead. Drake's lead stretched out to double digits at the 22-12 mark when
Shay McMillen registered a service ace, and the Bulldogs went on to win the first frame, 25-18.
Set two started with Drake and Utah Valley trading points to a 6-6 draw, but the Wolverines gained a bit of separation shortly after and went up 12-9. The Bulldogs remained right on the heels of the Wolverines, however, and a
Matthea Dalton ace brought the set back even at 14-14. Drake finally jumped ahead of Utah Valley using a
Caroline Smith kill to make the score 18-17 and the Bulldogs never relinquished the lead from there winning set two, 25-19.
Drake found itself in a hole in the early goings of the third set and faced a 6-1 deficit. When it came time for the media timeout, the Bulldogs still trailed in the set as a 3-0 run by the Wolverines had Drake down 15-8. The momentum started to flip, however, when Drake went on a 3-0 scoring spurt to trim Utah Valley's lead down to 20-18. Shortly after, another 3-0 burst from the Bulldogs capped by a Dalton kill saw Drake pull even with the Wolverines at 21-21. The final blow came off three straight Utah Valley attack errors, two of which were Bulldog blocks, giving Drake the sweep for the match.
Smith recorded the most kills in the match pacing the Drake offense with 13 kills. Melenciano was right behind with 12 kills of her own, while Beck, Dalton, and
Kamryn Behrns all chipped in with eight.
Carolyn Maser dished out the most assists for the Bulldogs collecting 24 helpers while
Katie Quick added 18 assists as well. Defensively,
Jasmine Dulan went for a team-high 22 digs.
AGAINST RADFORD
The first set saw Drake race out and double up the Highlanders in the early goings, 10-5.
Shay McMillen had the hot hand from the service line and recorded back-to-back aces in that span to spark the Bulldogs offense. Radford, however, had a response and won seven of the next eight points to jump in front, 12-11. The Bulldogs then battled back through the middle stages of the frame and got their lead back to five after Smith went for back-to-back kills to set the score at 21-16, which turned into a 25-19 set win.
Drake and Radford went toe-to-toe when the second set picked up, but it was the Highlanders that held on to the early lead at 8-5. McMillen continued to her strong game to get the Bulldogs back even with Radford a little later securing two consecutive kills notching the set at 15-15. A key 3-0 run, highlighted by a pair of Dulan aces, allowed Drake to go ahead 21-19, which forced a timeout from the Radford bench. The break in the action didn't slow the Dogs down, however, as Beck led the charge for another 3-0 scoring burst to close the set out at 25-20.
An early 7-4 deficit was immediately flipped to an 11-7 lead for the Bulldogs in the beginning of the third set following an impressive 7-0 scoring run where Dulan picked up another pair of aces. Radford, however, countered with a couple runs of its own to retake the lead. The Highlanders first tallied a 3-0 run and then used a 5-0 run moments later putting the score at 18-14. An immediate 4-0 surge from the Bulldogs that saw McMillen rattle off three consecutive scores then set the frame back square at 18-18 and it wasn't soon after that Drake went for another 4-0 spurt to win the set as Beck provided the game-winning exclamation point on a solo block.
McMillen was the top point scorer against Radford registering 11 kills to go along with five digs and three aces. Next in line were Beck and Smith each tallying nine kills, respectively. The setter duo of Maser and Quick both went for 19 assists in the match, meanwhile. Finally, Dulan compiled 23 digs to pair with her four service aces.
"Very proud of our team today for picking up two sweeps," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "Utah Valley is a good team, and we really had to stay focused in order to edge them out. Radford played aggressively and really challenged us in all areas of the game. But our team remained consistent and resilient throughout today's matches."
Drake will close out its tournament tomorrow afternoon against the hosts Kansas City with first serve scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
