Last Week
Bradley split a pair of home matches, falling to I-74 rival Illinois State in three sets before topping Indiana State in four sets for the team's first-Missouri Valley Conference victory of the season. The Braves are one game out of a tie for eighth place in the Valley standings after snapping a 10-match losing streak. Sophomore Emily Austin averaged 2.57 kills and 1.14 blocks per set while hitting .405 for the week. Freshman Megan Schmidt collected 12 kills, four blocks and two aces while hitting .500 in Bradley's win against Indiana State. She averaged 2.29 kills per set and attacked at a .429 clip for the week.
This Week
The Braves hit the road for a pair of Missouri Valley Conference matches, looking to end a 10-match MVC road losing streak with matches at Evansville (Friday) and at Southern Illinois (Saturday). Evansville won the season's first meeting between the two programs and has won each of the last three meetings in the series. The Braves still boast a 23-11 lead in the all-time series, however, and are 10-5 in matches played in Evansville, Ind. Southern Illinois pulled out a five-set victory against Bradley in East Peoria, Ill., to push its win streak in the series to six consecutive matches. The Salukis hold a 30-14 lead in the all-time series and hold a 6-15 edge in matches played in Carbondale, Ill.
Doomed To Go Five?
Bradley will celebrate Halloween with a Friday night contest at Evansville. The Braves are 3-3 all-time on Halloween, but each of the last three times Bradley has played a match on Oct. 31 the match went to a deciding fifth set. Creighton topped Bradley in five sets in Omaha, Neb., in the Braves last match on the final day of October during the 2003 season. BU's last win on Oct. 31 was a five-set thriller against Evansville during the 1998 campaign.
Braves Pick Up First Valley Win
Bradley earned its first Missouri Valley Conference victory of the year with a four-set win against Indiana State in the final match at Illinois Central College for the Braves. BU snapped a 10-match losing streak with the win and ended a 15-match MVC losing skid. The Braves will try to end a 10-match MVC road losing streak this weekend when the Braves play matches at Evansville and Southern Illinois.
Braves Get Rare Come From Behind Win
Saturday's four-set victory against Indiana State was a rare come-from-behind win for the Braves. Bradley entered the match with an 0-13 record when dropping the opening set of a match this season. After dropping the opening set 25-14, the Braves rallied to take the next three sets and post the first comeback win of the year. Bradley is 4-6 this year after winning the first set.
Getting Into The Flow
Sophomore middle blocker Emily Austin missed the entire preseason and the first 10 matches of the season due to an injury but appears to have recovered from her earlier setback. Austin struggled early on, averaging 1.45 kills per set while hitting .101 in her first 10 matches of the year. The last four outings have been a different story, however, as she has averaged 2.36 kills per set and is hitting .396 over that time period.
Dejean Tops 300 Digs
Freshman Rachelle Dejean is the first Bradley freshman to record 300 digs in a season since Cindy Novak led the team with 344 digs as a frosh in 1992. Dejean's 310 digs is the fifth-best season total by a Bradley freshman and she needs just 22 digs to move into the top three for BU freshmen. Currently on pace to become the first Bradley freshman with 400 digs in a season, she needs 74 digs to break the BU freshman mark and is 88 digs away from posting one of the top 10 season dig totals in program history.
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. Rachelle Dejean 2008 310 24
6. Marika Giguere 2000 297 25
Final Match At Illinois Central College
Saturday's home match against Indiana State marked the final time the Braves will play at Illinois Central College. Bradley has three home matches remaining on the schedule, but will return to campus for the three November home dates which will be played at the recently completed Markin Family Student Recreation Center. BU's first game in the facility will be the Nov. 8 contest against Northern Iowa. Bradley will also face 10th-ranked Wichita State (Nov. 14) and Missouri State (Nov. 15) at the Markin Family Student Recreation Center. The Braves are currently 3-7 at Illinois Central College, having already passed last season's home win total (2-12 at home in 2007).
Black Takes Over Fifth On Assist Chart
Senior setter Sam Black moved into fifth place on Bradley's career assist chart at Wichita State, passing Amelie Rodrigue. Black, who is on pace to become just the fifth player in program history to lead the team in assists in three different season, has 2,607 career assists heading into Friday's match at Evansville. She already has a career-best 79 kills and needs 23 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. Sam Black 2005- 2,607 105
6. Amelie Rodrigue 1999-2002 2,546 116
Comiskey Cracks Top 20
Junior Kaitlyn Comiskey cracked Bradley's career top 20 for digs with her team-best 13 digs at 14th-ranked Wichita State (Oct. 18( and is now one of 20 players in program history with 800 career digs. Comiskey enters Friday's match 20th all-time with 813 career digs. She needs 27 digs to move up two spots into 18th in school history and is 87 digs from becoming the 15th player in Bradley history with 900 career digs. With eight matches remaining she is on pace to finish the season with 894 digs which would rank 16th in school history.
Making Progress
While the Braves are just 1-10 in Missouri Valley Conference play this season, Bradley is certainly more competitive against its league foes. On the season, Bradley is 28-63 (.308) in sets played after going 21-87 (.194) in sets in 2007. The Braves are 13-31 (.295) in sets in Valley play this year compared with last season's 14-50 (.219) mark in league action.
Ranked Opponents
Bradley's recent match against 14th-ranked Wichita State was the Braves first of the year against a ranked
opponent. Bradley is no stranger to ranked teams, having played at least one ranked squad in four consecutive years counting this season. The Shockers were the highest ranked BU foe since the Braves faced then 13th-ranked Northern Iowa on Nov. 8, 2003. Bradley played three teams ranked 13th or better during the 2003 campaign. The Braves have played a ranked team in 10 of the last 11 seasons (counting 2008) and are 2-18 all-time against ranked squads. Bradley is 0-11 when playing a ranked team on the road and 2-4 when playing a ranked squad at home.
Horizon League Tour Comes To An End
Last week'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 Oct. 11 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 has appeared in 105 matches as a Brave, while fellow senior Katrina Goncher is second on the roster with 88 matches played but has only appeared in two matches this season.
Three-Set Losses
After being swept 19 times in 2007, the Braves have suffered nine three-set losses in the first 24 matches of 2008. Just over halfway through Missouri Valley Conference play, Bradley has been swept by a league opponent just three times after getting swept 10 times in league play last fall. While the Braves have just one MVC victory under their belt so far, Bradley has pushed three of its 10 Valley matches to a deciding fifth set after playing just two five-set matches in league play in 2007.
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 (0.92 per set) and attack percentage (.248), while ranking second in aces (17) and third in kills (166). Her 83 blocks is the ninth best total by a Bradley freshman and with eight matches remaining she is on pace to become just the sixth freshman in program history with 100 blocks as a frosh.
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 six 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 55 percent of the Braves kills, 50 percent of the teams digs and better than 55 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 209), assists (Rachelle Dejean - 2nd with 39), aces (Megan Schmidt - 2nd with 17), digs (Rachelle Dejean - 1st with 310) and blocks (Megan Schmidt - 1st with 83).
Pushed To The Limit
Bradley pushed Drake (Sept. 20) to the limit before falling in the fifth set in the first meeting between the two squads. 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 1-13 when dropping the opening set this season, but boast a 4-6 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 3-8 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.
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 to face Northern Iowa Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Markin Family Student Recreation Center. The Panthers hold a 45-9 edge in the all-time series with the Braves and have won six consecutive meetings in the all-time series. UNI swept Bradley in the season's first meeting in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and has won each of the last five matches in the series in three sets.
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.
