KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Drake volleyball team wrapped up its time at the Kansas City Klassic on Saturday afternoon and completed a perfect weekend by battling past the host institution, the Kansas City Roos, in a competitive five set match to go 3-0 in the tournament.
The Bulldogs started out the first set by racing out to a 9-3 advantage and capitalized on some early unforced errors from Kansas City. The Roos, however, countered back and drew within a point at 10-9. But the difference came when Drake rattled off an 8-0 run through the middle portion of the frame to really separate from the Roos.
Carolyn Maser led from the service line with a pair of aces, while freshman
Isabelle Kremer capped off the scoring run with back-to-back kills. Moments later fellow freshman
Kamryn Behrns secured the set for the Bulldogs, 25-14, with a kill.
Kansas City got the jump on Drake in the second set winning the first three points and then extending its lead out to 10-6. The Bulldogs stayed within striking distance of the Roos as the set progressed and cut their deficit down to a point at 15-14 after another Kremer kill. Drake finally took its first lead of the frame at the 21-20 mark due to a Kansas City attack error, but down the stretch the Roos went on a 3-0 run to claim the victory, 25-23.
Drake rebounded quickly after the dropped frame and set the tone with its defense in the third set using a combo block by
Aniyah Davis and
Lisa Melenciano to go up 11-8. A 4-0 run from the Bulldogs then stretched its lead out to 19-10 and forced a timeout from the Kansas City bench as Drake looked to seize control. The Roos pulled within three of the Bulldogs when play resumed, but the Drake defense showed up again with another tag team block by Davis and Melenciano for the winning point at 25-18.
Set four started similarly to the second set of the match and saw the Roos grab a 10-5 lead in the early goings, which caused Drake to take an early timeout. After the Bulldogs regrouped, however, the momentum stayed with Kansas City and the Roos eventually went up 22-14 following a 3-0 run before winning the frame, 25-16.
Drake went to work quickly in the fifth set and took control with a 5-1 lead after an ace from
Jasmine Dulan. The Bulldogs never looked back from there and doubled up the Roos at 10-5 putting them in the driver's seat to win the match, which they did with a final set score of 15-8.
"Our team had a strong weekend going 3-0 and winning the tournament," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "I thought we displayed some resilient effort for the weekend and found a way to get it done in the fifth set against Kansas City. It was really a great team effort and I think we grew a lot over the weekend and we look forward to continue improving from here."
Melenciano totaled a team high 12 kills for the Bulldogs while
Bliss Beck and Behrns also reached double digit kills with 10. Drake's duo of setters both went for double doubles with Maser collecting 23 assists and 12 digs and
Katie Quick tallying 18 assists and 11 digs. From the defensive side, Dulan went for 27 digs and the Bulldogs recorded 14 total blocks as a team.
Drake will be back on the court next for a pair of midweek contests. The Bulldogs will first host Omaha from the Knapp Center on Tuesday, Sep. 15 at 6 p.m. and then head to Iowa City for a date with the Iowa Hawkeyes on Wednesday, Sep. 16 at 8 p.m.
