Team Roster
Among the Drake Women’s Volleyball, there are currently 19 players listed. As for the starting 6, there is Haley Bush, a 5th year outside hitter. Kacie Rewerts, a senior middle. Taylor Oberpriller, a graduate right side. Opposite of Haley is the sophomore Macy Daufeldt. Jada Wills, a senior libero. And finally Sophomore Addison Beagle, the setter. The team boasts 19 total players, a majority spreading from the midwest. Freshman outside hitter Lisa Melenciano stems from Miami, Florida, and Junior Zeynep Gür was brought in from Istanbul, Turkey.
The Bulldogs are coached by Darrin McBroom. Assisted by Hali Hillegas, Eric Majors, and Sean Williams. The team also has 2 student managers Matt Stokovich and Manny Campuzano. You can find the list of the full roster here.
Team Schedule
The Bulldogs opened the preseason with four, 4 team tournaments, traveling to each. To begin the season, Drake traveled to Dayton Ohio for the Flyer Invitational where their abilities would be tested early. Starting the season going up against nationally ranked #12 Marquette, followed by Dayton(who would later be ranked in the top 25), and finally with nationally ranked #24 Western Kentucky. Later the team would travel to Washington State to take on Tulsa, WSU, and Northwestern State. The following week the team would take on South Dakota, IUPUI, and South Florida at the South Dakota Classic. All before finally returning to some familiar territory by taking on Ohio, USCB, and nationally ranked #23, Iowa State at the Cardinal & Gold Challenge in Ames, Iowa.
Before conference play, the Bulldogs would start the year with a 7-5 record heading into conference play. The team would open conference play with a road series at Illinois State, followed by a trip to Bradley. The team would come home and split a series between UIC and Valparaiso. The season would continue and the Bulldogs continued to win bolstering a 14-4 record after ending conference play in front of over 3,000 people in Cedar Rapids taking on UNI in the regular season finale. Moving ahead to the conference tournament Drake having the 2nd seed had a double bye and played UIC in the semi-finals. After having 2 losses on the year, Drake looked to bounce back, and they did winning in a swift 3-0 fashion. Following that match Drake would take on the eventual MVC champions UNI and come just short in finals losing 3-2. Drake would then be named as 1 of 32 NIVC teams to continue their post-season run. You can see the full schedule with the results of each match here.
Future and Beyond
Drake looks to continue their conference success moving into the 2024-2025 school year and season first beginning with a shortened, non-competitive spring season. Led by returners Macy Daufeldt, Addison Beagle, Jada Wills, and Ashlynn Kuhn, the Bulldogs look to add in some vital pieces to round out their roster. The team is bringing in at least 4 new recruits, who should help reinforce the already stout returning lineup. The offseason is a time for Drake to “reload” instead of “rebuild” as Coach McBroom described and look to continue their dominance in the MVC. It will be interesting to see how Drake will respond to losing their generational outside in Haley Bush, as well as First Team All MVC right side Taylor Oberpriller to graduation. These two players are looking to play professionally overseas and have a high likelihood of finding a new home, most likely in Europe somewhere. You can stay in the loop and follow any updates on the Drake Women’s Volleyball Instagram.