DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake volleyball team began its busy week with its first of two midweek matches when it hosted the Omaha Mavericks on Tuesday evening and fell to the visitors in four sets.
The first set of the night between Drake and Omaha started out with the two sides coming together at 5-5 following a
Matthea Dalton kill, but a quick 3-0 run from the Mavericks pushed them ahead immediately after. A little later, Drake had to call a timeout following a couple of unforced errors that extended Omaha's lead to 17-13. The Mavericks upped their lead to 20-15 following another error by Drake and held on to their five-point advantage the rest of the way to claim the frame.
The Bulldogs faced an early 10-4 deficit in the beginning of set two after Omaha jumped ahead using a 4-0 scoring run. By the time of the media timeout Drake still trailed, 15-7, as the Mavericks got back-to-back kills from Lara Maric. The break proved to useful for Drake, however, as the Bulldogs rattled off six of the next seven points to bring the deficit down to 16-13. With the Bulldogs trailing 20-17, Drake called a timeout and then proceeded to rip off a huge 6-0 run to jump ahead, 23-20. Dalton was at the forefront of the run effort with a kill and service ace while Lia Melenciano and
Aniyah Davis provided some defense with a key block. Moments later, Drake completed the comeback off two Omaha errors, 25-22.
Set three was full of back-and-forth action from start to finish with Drake and Omaha matching each other point-for-point, run-for-run. It was the Bulldogs, however, that finally gained a bit of separation at the 15-12 due to another block by Davis and Melenciano. The Mavericks pulled within one, however, after the break to make it 17-16 after securing back-to-back aces to keep pace with the Bulldogs. Omaha eventually took the lead over, 22-21, due to a 3-0 run and put the Bulldogs on their heels. The two teams would then trade points until Omaha won pulled away in extra points, 27-25.
It was another battle when the fourth set got underway, but a Melenciano kill put the Bulldogs up by one at the 10-9 mark. However, the moment quickly flipped to Omaha's side as the Mavericks countered with a 6-0 run to go into the media timeout up 15-10. The Mavericks were in control the rest of the way pushing their lead out to 22-15 and then eventually ending the match with a 25-19 set win.
Melenciano and Dalton paced the Drake offense on the night as both reached the double digit kill mark with Melenciano going for 16 and Dalton recording 11. The duo also displayed some defense with Melenciano tallying four blocks and Dalton leading the team in digs with 14.
Bliss Beck was on the cusp of securing a double-double but came up just shy with nine kills and a team-high seven blocks. The two setters for Drake,
Katie Quick and
Carolyn Maser, meanwhile dished out 20 and 18 helpers, respectively.
It's a quick turnaround for the Bulldogs as they hit the court again tomorrow night for a matchup with the Iowa Hawkeyes. First serve from Coralville is set for 8 p.m.
