Box Score PEORIA, Ill. -- Junior Megan Schmidt (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) collected a career-high 16 kills and freshman Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) finished with 14 kills to lead Bradley offensively Friday night against Hofstra, but the Pride used a 5-1 run midway through the fifth set to top the Braves during the first day of play at the CEFCU Classic. Set scores in favor of the Braves were 24-26, 25-19, 20-25, 25-20, 10-15.
Bradley (4-4 overall) led through most of the first set before Hofstra (3-6 overall) rallied late to take the opening frame 26-24. The Braves led by as many as four points and held a 22-19 lead following a Hofstra service error. The Pride answered with four consecutive points to take a 23-22 lead, before Bradley would tie the set at 24-24 on a kill by freshman Lauren Zerante (Elmhurst, Ill./York). Hofstra's Marina Markovic found the floor with a kill and an ace by Nikki Kinnier closed out the 26-24 opening-set win for the Pride.
Sophomore Shelly Mueller (Mount Prospect, Ill./John Hersey) served up two aces during a 6-0 Bradley run to open the second set as she helped Bradley build a nine-point advantage (20-11). Hofstra made a late push, pulling to within five points (23-18) before Bradley pulled even in the match with a 25-19 second-set win.
The Pride opened the third set with a 5-1 run and went back in front in the match with a 25-20 victory. Schmidt collected five of her career-best 16 kills in the fourth set to highlight a 25-20 BU win to help force a deciding fifth set. The Braves held a 21-18 lead when back-to-back kills by Schmidt pushed BU's lead to 23-18. The teams traded points, before Zerante sealed the fourth-set win with a kill.
Bradley held a 6-5 lead in the fifth set, when Kinnier sparked a 5-1 Pride spurt with a kill. Hofstra served up two of it's three fifth-set aces during the run which put the Pride in front 10-7. The Braves later closed the gap to 11-10 on back-to-back kills by sophomore Madelyn Ervin (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy), but BU would run out of steam. Hofstra recorded back-to-back blocks during a 4-0 spurt to close out the 15-10 win for the Pride.
Schmidt finished with a career-high 16 kills to go along with seven digs and three blocks. Angelos added 14 kills, while attacking at a .344 clip and also added three block assists. Sophomore Allie Gardner (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) led BU's defensive efforts with 17 digs. Mueller added season-highs of four kills, 46 assists, three aces and eight digs in the loss.
Shelby Young paced Hofstra with 18 kills and also tallied 19 digs. Carolyn Jenkins added 12 kills and five blocks, helping the Pride to a 13-6 advantage in blocks.
Earlier in the day Valparaiso extended its win streak to eight matches with a 25-18, 25-11, 25-17 sweep of Presbyterian in the opening match of the CEFCU Classic.
The CEFCU Classic continues Saturday at the Bradley University arena. Saturday's first match features Hofstra and Valapraiso at 9:30 a.m. and will be followed by Bradley facing Presbyterian at noon. Hofstra plays Presbyterian at 4:30 p.m. and the tournament concludes at 7 p.m. with Bradley taking on Valparaiso.
