PEORIA, Ill. -- Sophomore Megan Schmidt (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) collected 10 kills on her first 10 swings of the night and the Braves hit a blistering .395 as a team to sweep visiting Chicago State 25-7, 25-13, 25-18 Friday night at the Markin Family Student Recreation Center. Bradley and IUPUI are both 2-0 after the first day of play at the 2009 Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational after the Braves convincing win against the Cougars.

Fresh off an impressive outing earlier in the day, freshman Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) served 12 consecutive points to highlight a 12-0 Bradley run early in the opening set. Tupuritis served up three aces during the stretch which gave the Braves a 13-1 lead. Bradley hit .412 in the first set and served up five aces en route to a decisive 25-7 win.

Schmidt was the star of the show in the second set, tallying seven of her match-high 10 kills during the frame. Chicago State (0-2 overall) held an 11-10 lead before Schmidt highlighted a 7-0 BU spurt with three kills. Bradley hit at a .520 pace in the set (16 kills - 3 errors - 25 attacks) and cruised to a 25-13 victory.

Eight different Bradley players recorded kills in the third frame and 13 players saw playing time as the Braves completed the three-set sweep with a 25-18 win.

Schmidt led all players with 10 kills, and boasted a .769 attack percentage, while sophomore Genevieve Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) paced the defensive efforts with a team-best eight digs. Senior Amy Reichel (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) added seven kills, while owning a .500 hitting percentage. Chicago State managed just 19 kills and hit -.013 as a team in the contest. The Cougars were led by Mazvita Maziveyi's four kills.

The .395 team attack percentage is the best for the Braves since hitting at a .430 clip at Indiana State on Sept. 14, 2002 and Bradley is 2-0 to open a season for the first time since starting out the 2000 season with a 4-0 mark.  

In other action during the first day of play at the Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational, IUPUI swept Lehigh and Chicago State. South Carolina-Upstate split a pair of matches, falling to the Braves in four sets earlier in the day before posting a four-set win against South Carolina-Upstate in the afternoon.

The Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational concludes Saturday with five matches on the slate. Action at the Markin Family Student Recreation Center begins at 9 a.m. with South Carolina-Upstate facing Chicago State. Bradley takes on Lehigh at 11:30 a.m. and will be followed by IUPUI and South Carolina-Upstate at 2 p.m. Chicago State and Lehigh will play at 4:30 p.m. and the Braves wrap up tournament play at 7 p.m. against IUPUI.