KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The Sycamore volleyball team staged a fierce battle with the Drake Bulldogs Friday night in the ISU Arena but came out on the short end of a 3-1 score (20-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-25). The loss drops ISU to 8-9 overall and 0-4 in the Valley. Drake improved to 17-2 overall and 3-2 in the MVC.
Sophomore Morgan Dall led the ISU effort with 23 kills while sophomore Christie Fullenkamp added 12, junior Stacy Qualizza nine, and senior Ana Maira Charun had eight. Junior Shelbi Fouty came within one assist of her career high with 53 assists on the night. Junior Kiya James added 27 digs while sophomore Auriel Armstrong had five blocks.
The Sycamores stayed up with the Bulldogs early in the opening set but Drake used a 9-2 run to take a 12-5 advantage. Indiana State could not get any closer than three the rest of the set and lost 20-25. The second set was even closer with ISU trailing most of the way. The Sycamores were facing set point at 24-21 when kills by Fullenkamp and Dall cut the deficit to one. Drake's Angela Bys stopped the ISU rally with a kill to give the Bulldogs a 25-23 win and a 2-0 lead at the intermission.
There were 13 ties and seven lead changes in the third set as the Sycamores fought to stay alive in the game. Indiana State trailed late in the set but came back to tie the score at 23 on a Dall kill. Dall then scored a service ace but had an error on her next serve that tied the set at 24. ISU picked up the 26-24 set win on a kill by Fullenkamp and a Drake error.
The fourth set was all Drake as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 6-1 lead and the Sycamores were never able to recover. Drake picked up the set win 25-15 and took the game 3 sets to one.
The Sycamores had more kills than Drake 62-60 but hit at a .262 hitting percentage (compared to .319 for Drake) as ISU committed 35 errors in the game to 22 for the Bulldogs.
Creighton (9-6 overall and 4-1 in the Valley) defeated Illinois State (11-6 overall and 1-3 in the Valley) Friday night by a 3-1 count.
