Story by Ashley Beall
Drake volleyball played Northern Iowa this past Saturday at the Knapp Center and lost 0-3.
UNI swept Drake in all three sets 25-20, 25-17, 25-17. The win put UNI at No. 1 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Bulldogs have yet to win a game in conference play.
“Overall, I’m pleased with our team tonight,” said Drake head coach Darrin McBroom in a Drake athletics press release. “We served exceptionally well, and our goal was to out-serve and out-pass UNI tonight. Going into the third set, we had the slight edge in that. Offensively, we did better, and we are moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, we couldn’t close it out.”
Drake was led by freshman Capris Quaites who had two blocks, hit .240 and had eight kills.
Junior Amanda Platte also stepped up to help the Bulldogs with eight kills. Sophomore Rebecca Brown had a double-double with 19 assists and 11 digs. Senior Sarah Madden led Drake’s defense with 19 digs.
The first set opened with a bang, as the Bulldogs and the Panthers went back and forth, each fighting to edge the other. Both teams were unable to get a lead larger than two points. It wasn’t until the Bulldogs called their last timeout when they were down 22-20 that the Panthers broke away, scoring three consecutive points to get the win.
In the second set, the Panthers were able to gradually break away from the Bulldogs 11-7. However, the lead didn’t last long, as the Bulldogs called a timeout and rallied back, scoring four more points tying up the score 11-11. The Bulldogs weren’t able to keep the rally going and ended up losing 25-17.
In the final set, Drake and UNI came out hot and rallied back and forth 9-9. UNI was able to pull away, however, and went on a scoring run 3-0 and eventually pulled away at 18-12.
The Bulldogs showed a lot of improvement throughout the game and had moments where they were able to come together and perform as one. However, it wasn’t enough to get the win.
“If we can play like we did tonight against the top team in the conference the rest of the way, we have a real good chance of challenging teams every match,” McBroom said. “If we do that, we have an opportunity to finish this season very well.”
The Bulldogs next face Southern Illinois on Saturday at the Knapp Center at 7 p.m.
