The Valpo volleyball team was unable to overcome a Drake squad which remains unbeaten in MVC play, falling to the Bulldogs at the ARC Saturday night, 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17).
 
How It Happened

• Drake took control of the opening set early on, as Valpo never led and was only tied once, at 3-3. The Bulldogs scored the next four points to gain separation, and then with the Beacons within 10-7 later in the set, Drake put together an 8-2 run to put the opener out of reach.
• Drake led 7-6 early in set two before the Beacons reeled off a 9-1 run, a stretch which featured three kills and a block from freshman Lilly Merk (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South Vigo), to go up 15-9.
• The Bulldogs answered with five of the next six points to close to within two, but Valpo prevented Drake from getting any closer. Later on, with the lead just 21-19, senior Elise Swistek (LaPorte, Ind./New Prairie) tallied consecutive kills, followed by a kill from junior Sam Warren (Kentland, Ind./South Newton) to earn set point at 24-19.
• Valpo ended up needing every chance at claiming the set available to it, as Drake scored four in a row to make it 24-23. Finally, Warren notched the decisive kill to close the second set in the Beacons' favor, evening the match at one set apiece.
• The third set was a set of spurts for both sides. Drake jumped out to a 7-4 lead before an impressive stretch on the attack from Swistek, who recorded kills on five consecutive points to give Valpo the 9-7 advantage.
• Drake answered with a 7-1 run to pull ahead 14-10, and after the Beacons tallied four of the next five points to close back within one, the Bulldogs notched four points in a row to earn a 19-14 edge.
• The Beacons had another run in them, scoring five in a row — including two service aces from sophomore Mara Thomas (Bogart, Ga./Athens Academy) — to tie the set at 19 apiece. But after the teams traded sideouts, it was Drake with the deciding run, as the Bulldogs closed the set on a 5-1 run to take the 2-1 lead in the match.
• Valpo scored the first two points of the fourth set, but Drake scored seven in a row to take the lead for good. The Beacons were able to score consecutive points just once more in the frame as the Bulldogs hit .424 in the set on their way to closing the match.

 
Inside the Match

• Valpo ended the night with a slight 62-60 advantage in kills, but the next column over revealed a big reason for Saturday's result, as Drake committed just 10 attack errors to the Beacons' 28. The Bulldogs finished the night hitting at a .307 clip, the best mark by a Valpo opponent this season.
• Four Beacons finished in double digits in kills, led by Swistek, who posted 15 kills to go with 22 digs — her fourth outing with at least 20 digs this season. Over the course of the evening, the senior jumped three spots on Valpo's career digs chart and now sits 17^th with 1,280 career digs.
• Warren matched her career high with 13 kills, while freshman Kadence Brumitt (Niles, Mich./Brandywine) tallied 12 kills and 15 digs for her first career double-double.
• Merk rounded out the quartet with double-digit kill totals, hitting .364 with 10 kills — her third match with at least 10 kills this season.
• The matchup of the Valley's two most prolific liberos lived up to its billing. Drake's Jada Wills recorded a match-high 37 digs, while junior Emma Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) reached the 30-dig mark for the second time in as many nights, tallying 33 digs — third-most by a Valpo player in a four-set match in the 25-point era.

 
Next Up
A challenging stretch for Valpo (9-7, 1-3 MVC) continues on Tuesday evening with a 6 p.m. match at UIC. The matchup with the Flames will close a five-day span where the Beacons will have faced the top three teams in the MVC preseason poll.