Bradley Volleyball Game Notes at Drake (11-21-08) & at Creighton (11-22-08)

Bradley University Volleyball 11/19/2008 6:00:00 AM

Last Week

Bradley went 1-2 last week, suffering a pair of three-set losses to DePaul and 11th-ranked Wichita State before closing out the home portion of the schedule with a four-set victory against Missouri State. Four players averaged two kills per set or better during the week and freshman Rachelle Dejean averaged nearly five digs per set in the three matches. Bradley ended a 16-match losing streak in the all-time series with Missouri State and also ended a three-match losing streak on Senior Night which dated back to the 2004 season.

This Week

The Braves close out the 2008 season with a pair of road matches, playing at Drake (Friday) and at Creighton (Saturday) Bradley holds a 24-22 lead in the all-time series but the Bulldogs have won each of the last three meetings. Each of the last three matches in the series have gone to a fifth set. BU will close out the season at Creighton. The Bluejays own a 16-13 lead in the all-time series with the Braves and have won the last six meetings and 10 of the last 11 overall.

Braves End Skid Against The Bears

Bradley's win against Missouri State didn't just end a five-match losing streak. The Braves also ended a 16-match losing streak in the all-time series with the Bears which dated back to the 2000 season. BU had not defeated Missouri State since winning a five-set match on Oct. 20, 2000. In fact, the Braves had won just seven of 55 sets against the Bears during the 16-match MSU win streak.

Black Sparks Braves On Senior Night

Senior setter Sam Black turned in arguably the best performance of her BU career in her final home match, finishing with a career-best nine kills to go along with a season-high 50 assists while helping Bradley to a four-set victory against Missouri State. Black helped the Braves end a three-match losing streak on Senior Night. Bradley was just 1-5 on Senior Night prior to the win against the Bears. Black enters the final weekend of the season needing 29 assists to become just the fourth player in program history with 100 kills, 1,000 assists, 200 digs and 40 blocks in a season.

Dejean Breaks Freshman Mark

Freshman Rachelle Dejean is just the second Bradley player to post two outings of 30 digs or more in the same season after her 30-dig performance against Missouri State Saturday and broke the Bradley freshman mark for digs. Kathy Vaitkus held the school mark for digs by a freshman after posting 383 digs as a frosh in 1984. Dejean now has 397 digs, which is one dig away from the Braves top 10 season marks, and is three digs short of becoming the 10th player in program history with a 400-dig season.

Player Year Digs MP

1. Rachelle Dejean 2008 397 30

2. Kathy Vaitkus 1984 383 34

3. Cindy Novak 1992 344 29

Underclassmen Shine On Senior Night

Senior Sam Black may have turned in the best performance of her career in the Braves win against Missouri State, but the underclassmen shined in the four-set victory. Three of the Braves underclassmen reached double figures, paced by sophomore Emily Austin's career-high 15 kills, while freshman Rachelle Dejean recorded 30 digs. The Bradley underclassmen combined for 70 percent (46 of 66) of BU's kills and 75 percent of the team's digs (46 of 61). The freshmen and sophomores also combined for 75 percent of Bradley's blocks.

Braves Match 2007 MVC Win Total

Bradley matched last year's Missouri Valley Conference win total and doubled its overall win total from 2007 with Saturday's victory against Missouri State. With two matches remaining on the 2008 slate, the Braves have a chance to post their most Valley wins since 2006.

Schmidt Nearing History

Freshman middle blocker Megan Schmidt is entering the final weekend of the season with a chance to become the first player in program history with 200 kills, 100 digs and 100 blocks as a freshman. Her 95 total blocks ranks as the seventh-best total by a BU frosh and she is currently third on the squad with 207 kills. Schmidt is on pace to finish the season with 101 blocks which would make her just the sixth player in program history reach the century mark in blocks as a freshman and the first since Lindsay Stalzer in 2002.

Braves Take Set From UNI

Bradley didn't pick up a win against perennial Missouri Valley Conference power Northern Iowa Saturday, but the Braves did break one streak against the Panthers. BU's win in the third set against UNI ended a streak of 19 consecutive sets won by the Panthers against the Braves. Bradley's last set won against Northern Iowa came in the second set of the Braves Oct. 28, 2005 match in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Coming On Strong

After suffering an injury in the preseason which sidelined her for the first 10 matches of the season, sophomore middle blocker Emily Austin has emerged as one of the Braves top offensive threats of late. Over the last 10 matches, she is averaging 2.35 kills per set, while leading the squad with a .357 attack percentage.

Down The Stretch

Bradley had a tough closing stretch to finish Missouri Valley Conference play. The Braves faced the top four teams in the MVC standings in the final five matches of Valley play. BU's last five conference foes have combined for a 97-44 (.688) record heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Schmidt In Rare Air

Freshman Megan Schmidt leads the Braves in blocking with a 0.86 blocks per set average and ranks second on the team with 18 aces in addition to ranking third with 207 kills. Her 18 block solos is the fourth-best total by a Bradley freshman and the most since Joy Ostendorf had 20 block solos as a freshman in 1993. Schmidt is in even better company, however, as she is the only player in school history with 200 kills, 15 aces, 100 digs and 90 blocks as a freshman.

Player Year BS MP

1. Cheryl Christiansen 1985 38 42

2. Betsy Buckhold 1983 23 40

3. Joy Ostendorf 1993 20 29

4. Megan Schmidt 2008 18 30

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 (Oct. 25) 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.

Braves Get Rare Come From Behind Win

The Braves 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, but just 2-18 when dropping the first set of a match.

Black Takes Over Fifth On Assist Chart

Senior setter Sam Black moved into fifth place on Bradley's career assist chart at Wichita State (Oct. 18), 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 2,809 career assists heading into Friday's match against Drake. She already has a career-best 102 kills and is now one of four players in program history with 150 kills, 2,800 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- 2,809 111

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 21 players in program history with 800 career digs. Comiskey enters this weekend's play 18th all-time with 852 career digs. She needs nine digs to move into 17th in school history and is 48 digs from becoming the 15th player in Bradley history with 900 career digs. Senior Sam Black joined Comiskey in the 800-dig club recently and is now 21st all-time with 813 career digs.

Making Progress

While the Braves are just 2-14 in Missouri Valley Conference play this season, Bradley is certainly more competitive against its league foes. On the season, Bradley is 32-79 (.288) in sets played after going 21-87 (.194) in sets in 2007. The Braves are 17-44 (.279) in sets in Valley play this year compared with last season's 14-50 (.219) mark in league action.

Three-Set Losses

After being swept 19 times in 2007, the Braves have suffered 13 three-set losses in the first 30 matches of 2008. With only two matches remaining in Missouri Valley Conference play, Bradley has been swept by a league opponent six 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 14 Valley matches to a deciding fifth set after playing just two five-set matches in league play in 2007.

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 12 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

30 Rachelle Dejean vs. Missouri St. 11/15/08

30 Gillian Falknor vs. Purdue 9/3/05

30 Blythe Zajakowski Valparaiso 9/29/90

30 Patti Culloton Missouri 8/31/90

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 over 58 percent of the Braves kills, better than 52 percent of the team's digs and nearly 59 percent of the squad's blocks this fall. An underclassman is first or second on the team in nearly every statistical category including kills (Melissa Collins - 2nd with 259), assists (Rachelle Dejean - 2nd with 49), aces (Megan Schmidt - 2nd with 18), digs (Rachelle Dejean - 1st with 397) and blocks (Megan Schmidt - 1st with 95).

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 1-17 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 4-10 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.

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