MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Drake volleyball team was back on the court for its opening game of the Wildcat Classic on Saturday and the Bulldogs went the distance with Cal State Northridge but came out with a victory in five sets.
Drake faced an early deficit to the Matadors falling behind, 7-3, but moments later a huge 4-0 scoring run saw the Bulldogs draw the set even at 12-12.
Lisa Melenciano was the catalyst behind the run notching three kills while
Matthea Dalton added a service ace. Drake fell behind again later in the set, 21-18, and took a timeout which reset the Bulldogs as they went on a 5-0 run after the break to jump in front, 23-22, with the hot hand of Melenciano recording three more kills. The two sides eventually drew even at 25-25, but Drake responded by getting kills from
Bliss Beck and Dalton to win the frame.
It was a similar start in the second set for Drake as it trailed again, 7-3. However, it turned into a game of runs all the way to the media timeout with CSUN using a 5-0 run to go up 14-10 but the Bulldogs responded with a 5-0 scoring streak of their own to take a 15-14 lead. Melenciano continued to be the driving force for the Dogs racking up two more kills and also provided some defense on a combination block with
Aniyah Davis. The runs continued following the media timeout and Drake still held its lead, 19-17, after another 4-0 burst. The closing stages of the set remained close with CSUN pulling within one at the 24-23, but Melenciano capped the set win for the Bulldogs on the following point giving her 15 kills in the match.
For the third consecutive set the Bulldogs fell behind early following an attack error to make the score 10-5 in favor of CSUN. Drake did cut the deficit down to two when a kill by
Kamryn Behrns made it 16-14, but a 5-0 Matador run extended the deficit back out to 21-15. Another scoring spurt from the Matadors put the set away moments later and the game moved to a fourth frame.
Another fast start from the Matadors put the Bulldogs in a 7-2 hole in the early goings of the fourth set, but Drake slowly chipped away and evened the frame up at 13-13 going on a 7-1 scoring stretch as Melenciano kept doing damage and Dalton added another service ace to her ledger. Following an ace from
Jasmine Dulan at the 15-15 mark, the set flipped in favor of CSUN as a 6-0 Matador run broke the frame open and Drake was forced to move on to a fifth and final set with another 25-18 loss.
Hoping to deny the comeback from CSUN, the Bulldogs ripped off a 7-0 scoring run to start set five putting them in comfortable position. Drake was in cruise control from the point on as back-to-back kills from Beck stretched its lead to 13-4 and a
Bella Faria service ace put an end to the match.
"Just really proud of our team today going into the match," Drake head coach
Darrin McBroom said. "I told our team win or lose today what I want to see was just them to truly compete and it was so exciting to see our team come out from the first set doing just that and really being disciplined in all areas of the game. We gave up momentum in the second, third, and fourth sets, but again, for our team to come back and have such a dominating fifth set performance was great to see.
"They really competed and demonstrated what Bulldog volleyball should look like," McBroom added. "Congratulations to Lisa on her career high of 27 kills. She had a great day and also really proud of our serve-receive unit. Also, really proud of the defensive effort of all our kids today. They all played solid defense and wore down a potent offensive team."
Melenciano posted a career day finishing with 27 kills to pace the Bulldog attack. She also added nine blocks on the defensive side. Meanwhile, Dalton went for a double-double performance with 11 kills and 14 digs. Also going for a double-double was
Katie Quick registering 35 assists and 20 digs. Dulan led the Bulldogs with a career-best 30 digs.
Drake returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it challenges tournament host Kansas State at 1 p.m.
