DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake volleyball team started its conference slate as it hosted in-state rival Northern Iowa on Tuesday night from the Knapp Center and lost in straight sets, 3-0.
Drake and UNI went back-and-forth in the early stages of set one and
Carolyn Maser brought the score even at 5-5 with a service ace to get some momentum rolling for the Bulldogs. From that point forward, however, the set was controlled by UNI. The Panthers used consecutive runs of 3-0 and 4-0 to go up 14-7 and double up the Bulldogs just before the media timeout. UNI then cruised to the finish line of the frame winning five of the last six points for a final score of 25-13.
In the second set, Drake and UNI once again went point-for-point at the start until an
Aniyah Davis kill put the Dogs up one at the 12-11 mark. The Panthers delivered a strong counter immediately after, however, with a 6-0 run and jumped ahead 17-12. Drake slowly chipped away at the deficit and a huge combo block from
Bliss Beck and
Shay McMillen made the score 19-17 and then a service ace by
Katie Quick had it at 23-21, but the Panthers closed out the set winning the last two points, 25-21.
After matching runs from both Drake and UNI opened set three to a 5-5 score, the Panthers looked to seize the momentum with another run, this time by a length 5-0, that included three consecutive service aces and forced a timeout from the Bulldog bench. Drake regrouped and eventually tied it back up at 15-15 using a 3-0 run highlighted by a pair of kills and a block by Melenciano. Drake stayed within striking distance of the Panthers as the set progressed, but UNI was just too much down the stretch and a defensive block sealed the match with another final set score of 25-21.
"UNI has been really good for a really long time," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "So to open up conference play against them is a good test for us to see how far off we are and the fact that we were able to hang and battle with them tonight shows me that we have a lot to look forward to in the future. The ending of our non-conference schedule, going 0-4, wasn't what we wanted, but we were able to get a lot of different looks from a lot of different players on our young team and that is going to be vital as we get deeper into the conference season. With Murray State coming in here on Friday, we know it's going to be another tough battle as they always play us tough."
Melenciano was the leading scoring in the match for the Bulldogs registering a team-high seven kills and a team-high three digs. Just behind her was freshman
Kamryn Behrns with six kills.
Katie Quick dished out 16 assists on the night from her setter position while also adding six digs and
Jasmine Dulan led Drake with 16 digs on the defensive side.
The Bulldogs welcome Murray State to the Knapp Center for their next contest on Friday, Sep. 25. First serve versus the Racers is set for 6 p.m.
