The Dragon volleyball team hosted Fulda on October 5th. The Dragons would sweep the Raiders in three 25-22, 25-16 and 25-22.
The evenly matched Dragons and Raiders opened the first match trading points back and forth until Avery Balster stepped to the serving line with the score tied at 11-11. Avery would rattle off five serves including one ace to up the score to 16-11 in Adrian’s favor. The score would continue to inch to the finish with each team trading sideout points when Fulda got the serve at 23-19 and fought for three hard earned points. The Dragons called a timeout with the score 23-22 in their favor. Both teams brought their defensive chops to the court following timeout and entered a marathon rally that had the crowd and benches on their feet. The rally would end with a Dragon point after a Fulda hitting error. The Dragons took over the serve at 24-22 and a Miah Kunkel kill ended the game 25-22.
The Dragons came out in game two and jumped to an early lead behind the serving of Mayssa Tweet. Fulda would creep back into the game and the teams would be knotted 11-11 at mid-game. Lexi Slater stepped to the serving line and had a run of six points aided by the front row play of Miah Kunkel and Ryley Hokeness. The Dragons would take a comfortable lead at 16-12. The Dragons continued to serve aggressively to continue to inch toward the finish. Another long rally ended in a Dragon point at 23-16 and the Dragons would serve out the game finishing on an Avery Balster tip to take game two 25-16.
Fulda would jump out to an early lead in game three but the Dragons would chip away at the lead, winning a couple of long rallies to fire up the crowd. The teams again showed how evenly matched they were as they stood tied at 13-13 when smart net play by Paige Bullerman brought the serve back to the Dragon side. With Lexi Slater at the service line behind the front row of Miah Kunkel and Rylie Hokeness the Dragons would claw their way to an 18-14 lead. The Dragons would take advantage of a series of Fulda mis-hits to pull ahead 23-19 before the Raiders earned a sideout. Tough defense by the Raiders and a series of mis-hits by the Dragons allowed the Raiders to keep hope alive. Kasie Tweet came out of a Dragon timeout with a kill to stop the Raider run and give the Dragons match point. The Dragons called Kasie Tweets number again and she came through with a kill to end the game 25-22.
The Dragon servers were led by Kasie Tweet who served 10-10 with 2 aces, Avery Balser 10-11 with 2 aces, Mayssa Tweet 19-19 and Lexi Slater 16-17 with 1 ace. Miah Kunkel led the Dragons in kills with 11 followed by Rylie Hokeness with 9. Lexi Slater would have 8 digs and Mayssa Tweet would dish up 26 set assists.
The Dragon record improves to 11-7 (3-4 in conference play) they will head to Edgerton on the 12th to take on the Dutchmen.
