Bradley Volleyball Notes at Missouri State (10-17-08) & at Wichita State (10-18-08)

Bradley University Volleyball 10/16/2008 5:00:00 AM

Last Time Out

Bradley suffered its seventh consecutive loss Tuesday, falling in three sets at Illinois-Chicago. Junior Amy Reichel had 10 kills and sophomore Melissa Collins added nine kills to lead the Braves offensively. Chicago-area natives Rachelle Dejean and Lyndi Senkpiel tied for match-high honors with 11 digs.

This Week

The Braves face Missouri State on Friday and then travel to 14th-ranked Wichita State for a Saturday match. Missouri State holds a 36-7 lead in the all-time series and has won 15 consecutive matches in the series. Bradley has not won in Springfield, Mo., since the 1999 season. Wichita State is 25-18 in the all-time series with the Braves and has won 10 straight over BU. Bradley's last win in the series was in the 2002 MVC Tournament and the Braves have not won in Wichita, Kan., since the 2001 season.

Busy Road Stretch

Bradley will play three road matches this week to conclude a season-long four-match road swing. The Braves will also be wrapping a stretch in which seven of 10 matches were on the road. Following Saturday's match at 14th-ranked Wichita State, Bradley will play five of the next eight matches at home.

Ranked Opponents

Wichita State enters this week's action ranked 14th in the AVCA Coaches poll. The Braves are no stranger to ranked teams, having played at least one ranked squad in each of the last three years. Bradley has not played a team ranked in the top 15 since the 2003 season, however, when BU played three matches against teams ranked 13th or better. The Braves have played a ranked team in 10 of the last 11 seasons (counting 2008) and are 2-17 all-time against ranked squads. Bradley is 0-10 when playing a ranked team on the road.

Dig For The Cure

Bradley will host a Dig for the Cure event Thursday, Oct. 23 when the Braves host I-74 rival Illinois State at Illinois Central College. Fans are encouraged to pledge money for each dig their favorite player records during the month of October or for each dig Bradley records during the month. Individuals can also pledge a flat dollar amount with all proceeds from the event helping benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The Braves have already raised over $700 for the Komen Foundation.

Horizon League Tour Comes To An End

Tuesday's match at Illinois-Chicago was Bradley's fourth and final match against a member of the Horizon League. The Braves also played Loyola, Valparaiso and current Horizon League leader Wisconsin-Milwaukee earlier this season. Last season Bradley played five matches against Horizon League members going 0-5 in those matches. The Braves have now lost 11 consecutive matches to Horizon League members dating back to the 2005 season and have not won a road match against a Horizon League foe since 2004.

Black Joins Century Club

Senior Sam Black joined the century club last Saturday at Northern Iowa, playing the 100th match of her career. Black is the Braves active career leader in assists and aces while ranking second among current players in career digs. Black is 13 assists away from becoming the sixth player in program history with 2,500 career assists and needs 15 digs to join junior Kaitlyn Comiskey in Bradley's career top 25.

Three-Set Losses

After being swept 19 times in 2007, the Braves have suffered seven three-set losses in the first 20 matches of 2008. This weekend's action will mark the halfway point of Missouri Valley Conference play and Bradley has just one three-set loss against an MVC opponent to date after getting swept 10 times in league play last fall. While the Braves are still looking for their first MVC victory, Bradley has pushed three of its seven Valley foes to date to a deciding fifth set and boast a 9-21 (.300) in sets played in MVC play after going 14-50 (.219) in sets in league play last year.

Rachelle Dejean Climbing The Charts

Freshman Rachelle Dejean enters this weekend's action 10th in the MVC in digs per set and is the only freshman to rank in the top 10 in the Valley in digs per set. Dejean has a team-best 267 digs on the year and is averaging 3.47 per set. Her 267 digs is the eight-best season total by a BU freshman and is the most by a Bradley freshman since the 2000 season. She is just 10 digs from moving into sixth on the BU freshman digs chart and is looking to become the first freshman to lead the team in digs since Cindy Novak in 1992. Below is a look at the top dig marks posted by Bradley freshman.

Player Year Digs MP

1. Kathy Vaitkus 1984 383 34

2. Cindy Novak 1992 344 29

3. Lisa LaMontagne 1991 331 31

4. Tricia Hampe 1990 315 36

5. Marika Giguere 2000 297 25

6. Amelie Rodrige 1999 276 26

7. Jenny Pavlas 1993 272 29

8. Rachelle Dejean 2008 267 20

9. Jami Greve 1991 247 31

Black Nearing 2,500 Assists

Senior setter Sam Black moved into sixth on Bradley's career assist chart, passing Sharon Zaba against Evansville on Oct. 4. Black has 2,487 assists entering Friday's match at Missouri State and is on pace to lead the team in assists for a third consecutive year. She is 59 assists behind Amelie Rodrigue for fifth place and is 13 assists short of reaching 2,500 for her career. Black already has a career-best 66 kills and needs 13 assists and 46 digs to become one of five players in program history with 100 kills, 2,500 assists, 50 aces, 800 digs and 50 blocks in a career.

Career Assist Leaders

# Name Years Ast. MP

1. Michelle Pack 1992-95 4,251 110

2. Sam Hardwick 1998-2001 3,828 112

3. Ashley Vance 2002-05 3,721 117

4. Wendy Carney 1986-89 2,937 137

5. Amelie Rodrigue 1999-2002 2,546 116

6. Sam Black 2005- 2,487 101

7. Sharon Zaba 1982-85 2,434 123

Schmidt Also Leaving Her Mark

Freshman Rachelle Dejean isn't the only Bradley freshman having an impact this season for the Braves. Freshman middle blocker Megan Schmidt leads the team in blocks (0.95 per set) and attack percentage (.250), while ranking second in aces (14) and third in kills (136). Her 72 blocks is tied for the ninth best total by a Bradley freshman and with 12 matches remaining she is on pace to become just the sixth freshman in program history with 100 blocks as a frosh.

Comiskey Breaks Into Top 25

Junior Kaitlyn Comiskey broke into Bradley's career top 25 for digs and currently tied with Diana Johnson (1987-90) for 23rd in school history with 779 digs as a Brave. Comiskey is just 21 digs away from becoming the 20th player in program history to reach 800 career digs. At her current season average of 10.5 digs per match, she is on pace to become the 15th player in Bradley history with 900 career digs before the end of the season.

Digging The Night Away

Freshman Rachelle Dejean helped Bradley turn in one of the best defensive efforts of the season at Western Illinois (Sept. 23), tallying 33 digs to help the Braves to a season-best 92 digs on the night against the Westerwinds. Dejean's 33 digs is tied for the fourth-best single-match effort in school history and is one of four 30-dig efforts in the Missouri Valley Conference this season. It's the highest dig total for a Bradley player since Briony Hammet had a school record 38 digs at Evansville on Oct. 22, 2008, and is the 10th 30-dig outing in school history.

Bradley Digs In A Match

Digs Name Opponent Date

38 Briony Hammet at Evansville 10/22/05

35 Julie Penn Valparaiso 9/29/90

34 Gillian Falknor at Evansville 10/22/05

33 Rachelle Dejean at Western Illinois 9/23/08

33 Mary Kay Schmidt Valparaiso 9/29/90

31 Katy Culloton Western Illinois 9/17/88

31 Kathy Bickler Illinois State 11/23/85

Underclassmen Playing Big Roles

Using a roster which features just five upperclassmen, first-year Bradley head coach Sean Burdette knew the underclassmen would be playing important roles during the 2008 season. The younger players have stepped up the challenge and played key roles for BU in the early going. The underclassmen have combined for 53 percent of the Braves kills, 51 percent of the teams digs and almost 54 percent of the squad's blocks this fall. An underclassmen is first or second on the team in nearly every statistical category including kills (Melissa Collins - 2nd with 181), assists (Rachelle Dejean - 2nd with 30), aces (Megan Schmidt - 2nd with 14), digs (Rachelle Dejean - 1st with 267) and blocks (Megan Schmidt - 1st with 72).

Pushed To The Limit

Bradley pushed Drake (Sept. 20) to the limit before falling in the fifth set. It marked the third consecutive match between the two conference rivals that went to the deciding set. The Bulldogs have won each of those three matches. Prior to the current streak, the Braves and Bulldogs had not played a five-set match since the 2000 season. It marked the 12th time the two longtime rivals played five sets. The Braves hold a 24-22 edge in the series, but 11 of BU's 22 losses have come in five-setters as Drake is now 11-1 when playing five sets against the Braves.

Braves Need Quick Starts

The first set has been the key to victory in Bradley's matches this season. The Braves are 0-11 when dropping the opening set this season, but boast a 4-5 record when claiming the first set. The Braves were 1-5 when claiming the opening set of a match in 2007.

Cave Named To All-Tournament Team

Freshman Annie Cave was named to the all-tournament team at the Northern Illinois Invitational. She entered the weekend with 19 kills on the season, but averaged 2.33 kills per set in three matches and posted 19 kills in the Braves final two matches of the tournament. Against Loyola Cave had a team-best nine kills and attacked at a .500 clip. She followed it up with a 10-kill performance against tournament-host Northern Illinois in which she hit .450. Cave hit a team-best .383 for the week.

Reichel Earns All-Tourney Honors

Junior Amy Reichel was voted to the all-tournament team at the Wingate by Wyndham Invitational after helping Bradley to a 2-1 record and second-place finish. Reichel averaged 3.58 kills and 0.42 aces per set in the three matches. She matched her then career-high with 16 kills in a four-set loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee and tallied a career-best 17 kills to go along with three aces in BU's five-set win against SIU-Edwardsville. She recorded 10 kills in a three-set win against Eastern Michigan as she reached double figures in kills for a career-best fifth consecutive match.

Tough Slate

First-year Bradley head coach Sean Burdette and his young Braves will have their hands full during the 2008 season. Bradley will play 15 of 32 matches against teams which won 20 or more matches last season and have a total of nine matches against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. The Braves are currently 3-5 against teams which won 20 or more matches last year. Bradley plays 11 matches against teams that finished ranked in the top 56 of the RPI.

What's Back

The Braves return eight of 12 letterwinners from last year's team, including five of the top seven attackers. Bradley did graduate its top two attackers in Nikki Pierzchala and Jenna Harrison (495 combined kills in 2007) and setter Eileen Hillary (344 assists), but bring back nearly 61 percent of the team's kills, 73 percent of the team's digs, 73 percent of the blocks, 85 percent of the aces and almost 71 percent of the team's aces from 2007.

New Look

Bradley will have a new look when the Braves take the court for the first time in 2008. Not only is there a change in offense, switching to a ?5-1' offensive set compared to the ?6-2' set that has been utilized the last few years, but the biggest change might be on the bench. Sean Burdette is the seventh coach in program history and joins the Braves after a five-year stint as an assistant coach at Ohio State. Four of the previous six head coaches in program history won their first match as head coach of the Braves. Senior setter Sam Black will take over the primary setting duties after splitting time at setter each of her first three seasons.

Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat

Bradley will be without a true home court during the 2008 season, splitting its home matches between Illinois Central College and the soon-to-be completed Markin Family Student Recreation Center on Bradley's campus. Due to construction of a new Athletics Facility which is currently underway, the Braves will play the first 10 of a scheduled 13 home matches at Lorene Ramsey Gym on Illinois Central College's East Peoria, Ill., campus. The new Athletics facility is not scheduled for completion until the 2009-10 school year, but the Markin Family Student Recreation Center (a multi-purpose recreational facility) will open October 23rd and serve as site for the final three home matches of the season. The Braves are currently 2-6 at Illinois Central College, having already matched last season's home win total (2-12 at home in 2007).

Braves Picked Ninth In MVC Poll

Bradley was picked to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference, according to a vote of league coaches. The Braves finished ninth in the final 2007 standings. Wichita State is the preseason favorite, receiving four first-place votes. Bradley received 25 points and was just nine points behind Evansville for seventh place.

2008 Preseason Coaches' Poll

Team Total

Wichita State (4) 91

Northern Iowa (2) 84

Creighton (3) 81

Missouri State (1) 73

Illinois State 67

Southern Illinois 52

Evansville 34

Drake 31

Bradley 25

Indiana State 12

Volleyball Blog

Juniors Kaitlyn Comiskey and Lyndi Senkpiel will be blogging on the Bradley Athletics website (www.bradleybraves.com) throughout the 2008 season. The duo started blogging the first week of practice and will continue to do so until the end of the year.

Up Next

Bradley returns home for a pair of matches beginning Thursday, Oct. 23 against I-74 rival Illinois State. The match against the Redbirds will also be Dig for the Cure night at Lorene Ramsey Gym. Illinois State holds a 49-12 lead in the all-time series with the Braves and has won 11 consecutive matches in the all-time series dating back to the 2003 season.

Rule Changes

There are several rule changes that will take effect for the 2008 season. Instead of playing a best of five “games” in a match, teams will now play a best of five “sets” to constitute a match. The most notable change will be shortening of those sets to 25 points, instead of the 30-point set which has been in place since collegiate volleyball moved to rally scoring in 2001. The number of points required to win the deciding fifth game will remain at 15. The other significant change is the reduction of substitutions in a set from 15 to 12.

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