MACOMB, Ill. - Senior Ashley Baker had a record setting day for the Western Illinois volleyball team, recording her 1,000th career kill during the third game of the five-game loss to Drake, 3-2 (35-37, 30-20, 30-26, 13-30, 19-21). The Fort Wayne, Ind., native tallied 23 kills, 14 digs and five service aces for the Westerwinds (3-8, 1-0 Summit League) in the loss.

Western and the Bulldogs (3-9, 0-1 Missouri Valley) fought hard through the match, which included two extra-point games to start and finish the match.

Drake took its momentum from winning game four into the start of the deciding game and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. Western tied the game at six before pushing out to a three-point lead (13-10). The Bulldogs tied the game at 14 with a kill by Emily Madden and then the teams rallied back and forth until Drake earned the game and match victory.

"This was the third match in a row that we went to five games," said head coach Kym McKay. "It was also the third match in a row that we had moments of exceptional volleyball and moments of extremely unexceptional volleyball. We were fortunate in the two previous matches this week to have things go our way, but this time it didn't."

Game one started with a marathon of scoring with the teams pushing each other to force 12 extra points. Western started the game with a three-point lead before Drake tied the game at five. The Bulldogs then went up by as many as seven points (22-15), before the Westerwinds were able to take the lead back at 25-24. Drake used late kills by Madden and Angela Bys to claim the victory in game one.

In game two Western jumped out to an early three-point lead again, but never allowed Drake to get closer than two points throughout the game. After recording just three of the 15 kills she needed to garner her 1,000th career kill, Baker tallied 10 in game two to push the Westerwinds to victory.

The 2006 Mid-Continent Conference co-Player of the Year then notched the milestone to put Western up 5-3 in game three.

"It was a great feeling," said Baker. "The best part has been having teammates and coaches behind me for the five years that I have been here."

In game four the Bulldogs and the Westerwinds fought for the early lead, before Drake started an 8-0 run to put them ahead for the remainder of the game. The Bulldogs used strong offense to force a game five, and did not allow Western to score more than five points during the rest of the game. Drake recorded a .559 (21k-2e-34ta) hitting percentage during the fourth game, while the Westerwinds hit .276 (10k-2e-29ta).

Western will now return to the road for four-straight matches in the next two weeks. The Westerwinds will first travel to Chicago to face DePaul, Tuesday, September 18 at 7 p.m. Western will then start the bulk of its Summit League action with a match in Kansas City, Mo., against UMKC, Saturday, September 22 at 7 p.m.

Notes: Baker now needs just 31 kills to claim the No. 5 spot on Western's all-time kill charts...senior Amy Sauerwein got 45 kills closer to the 1,000 Kill/1,000 Dig club...the Belleville, Ill., native is now 67 kills away from the elite club...junior Sarah Trimpe recorded a career high 27 digs in the match against Drake...her previous high was 15 set on Friday, September 14 against IUPUI...Baker's five service aces tied a career high set October 23, 2005 against Oral Roberts.