The Drake women’s volleyball team played their last game of the regular season against University of Northern Iowa last Saturday, losing all three sets with the scores of 25-17, 28-26 and 25-20.
The first set started off with University of Northern Iowa (UNI) scoring a handful of points, with Drake coming back with a score. The set was within four points until the last seven serves.
The second set went to a tie breaker at 25-25 in which they played another four points before UNI eventually won the set.
The third set was close as well, ending 25-20, with the margin never growing more than five points.
“We are hoping to see UNI this weekend [at the tournament],” Paige Aspinwall, setter for the team, said.
She also noted the team is going over videos in practice and working to improve for the tournament over Thanksgiving break.
“The season has gone better than expected,” Aspinwall said.
When planning for the season, the team had two goals: the first was to make it to conference and the second was to get 20 wins in the regular season, Aspinwall said.
Looking at the team’s record, they were able to accomplish both of those goals, with the team winning 23 games this season.
The team added to their stats on the year with senior Odessa Cody recording her season-best number of kills during her final game at Drake University, according to the Drake Athletic Department news release.
Senior Kyla Inderski added seven kills to her career total of 1,428 and landing her in second place for the most kills in school history, according to the Drake Athletic news release.
The team is going into the tournament ranked third in the division.
The crowd in attendance was one of the largest the team has seen all season, Aspinwall said.
Aspinwall also noted the team feeds off the energy from the crowd, adding she looks forward to playing in front of crowds of that size again.
Update
The Bulldogs lost their tournament opener to Indiana State in three sets to end their terrific season on a low note. The team won 23 games this year, third most in program history, continuing the upward trend they have been on for the last few seasons.
Seniors Odessa Cody and Kyla Inderski added to their already impressive career numbers, leaving their mark on Drake’s volleyball program.
With Cody and Inderski being the only two seniors graduating, the Bulldogs expect that the return of a lot of young talent next year will help them to keep making strides.
There are only three juniors currently on the roster: Cathryn Cheek, Grace Schofield and Sara Jensen. This is to go along with only three sophomores: Paige Aspinwall, Elle Tubbs and Courtney Morehead.
With that, they will look to the plethora of underclassmen to produce next year. There are eight first-years currently on the roster, so with only six upperclassmen returning, surely these young athletes will have to step up and be heavily involved in rotations.