The Drake University volleyball team is officially halfway through conference play before the postseason begins. The team didn’t start out the season with many wins, but things are looking up recently.
The team started conference play with a 4-7 record. They showed a strong fight as they went 1-2 at the Western Kentucky University Invitational on Aug. 29 and 30, but took every match to five sets. Following that tournament, they went to the 305 Challenge in Miami, Florida, Sept. 4-6, where they showed real potential for the season, going 2-1, only losing to the University of Miami.
From there, they headed to the Husker Invitational on Sept. 12 and 13, where they didn’t have the best showing, going 0-2. Their most recent was the South Dakota Classic, where they went 1-2, including a three-set sweep over Villanova University.
The Bulldogs found a couple of their standout players in the first weeks. Outside hitter Macy Daufeldt started strong with a .232 hitting percentage in the first game of the season, and then followed that with a .255 hitting percentage against Florida International University on Sept. 6. Setter Addison Beagle also started the year off strong with 22, 29 and 24 assists in the first three games.
Arguably, one of the best players to start this season was outside hitter Kacia Brown. She had an average of a .224 hitting percentage through the first 10 games, four service aces in two separate games, and an average of 10.9 digs a game through the first 10 games. Although a lot of these games didn’t end in a win, the team came away with important things to work on before conference play started, such as limiting service errors and raising their kill percentage.
They started conference play with three losses to the University of Valparaiso, the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Northern Iowa. These losses did come with some hope, though, as the matches either went into four or five sets.
Since their loss to UNI, the Bulldogs have been on a seven-game winning streak, with three-set sweeps against Murray State University, the University of Evansville, and Illinois State University. They have a 3-1 record at home, as opposed to their 4-4 record for away games.
One of their most dominant wins yet was against the Evansville Aces on Oct. 11 at home. The game went to three sets with the scores being 25-13, 25-12 and 25-13. The Bulldogs had a dominant hitting percentage of .324 with only nine errors, as well as five service aces. Daufeldt and setter Katie Quick were a couple of the standout players in this game. Daufeldt had a .346 hitting percentage with 12 kills and 13 digs on the night. Quick had 16 assists and one service ace on the short night.
A game that showed the team’s determination and hard work was their second game against Bradley on Oct. 18 at Bradley University. This game went all five sets with scores of 25-23, 14-25, 25-17, 31-33, and 15-13. Drake had to fight hard for the 31-33 win, going 8 points over a standard set and then only winning the last set by a two-point margin.
The standout players of this game included Daufeldt, Beagle and middle blocker Aniyah Davis. Daufeldt once again had a dominant game with a .347 hitting percentage, 21 kills and 17 digs. Beagle had a season high of 32 assists as well as two service aces and eight digs. Davis had a steady game as well with two service aces and four blocks.
The Bulldogs have a competitive schedule until post-season starts, and will play UNI and UIC again, who they lost to previously, as well as two comparable teams in Indiana State and Southern Illinois. They are currently number four in the conference, just behind UNI, Valparaiso and UIC. If they continue how they have been playing, they could stay in the top four. If the team continues improving, they could be a top-three competitor.
