Last Week
Bradley opened a season-long five-match homestand by hosting its second tournament of the 2010 season. The Braves opened the CEFCU Classic with a five-set loss to Hofstra, before dropping a pair of four-set matches to Presbyterian and tournament-champion Valparaiso.
This Week
Bradley continues a season-long five-match homestand when the Braves open Missouri Valley Conference play against Wichita State (Friday) and Missouri State (Saturday). The Shockers hold a 29-18 lead in the all-time series with BU and boast a 14-match win streak in the series. The series is tied at 12-12 in matches played in Peoria. Missouri State holds a 39-8 lead in the all-time series. The Bears swept the regular-season series last year after BU won in four sets against MSU in the final home match of the 2008 season at the Markin Family Student Recreation Center. Missouri State has won 18 of the last 19 overall in the series and holds an 18-5 lead in the series in matches played in Peoria.
Conference Openers
Bradley will be opening its 28th season of conference play Friday against visiting Wichita State. The Braves are 15-12 all-time in conference openers, but have lost four consecutive Valley openers, dating back to a four-set win against Creighton to open the 2005 Valley slate. Bradley is 8-6 all-time when opening conference play at home. The Braves are 2-3 when playing Wichita State in the first conference match of the season, including a 1-1 record in matches in Peoria.
All-Tournament Honors
Junior Megan Schmidt was named to the all-tournament team at the CEFCU Classic after averaging 2.54 kills and 0.92 blocks per set. Schmidt tallied a career-best 16 kills to go along with seven digs and three blocks against Hofstra. She followed that with a season-best five blocks against Presbyterian and tied for team-high honors with 12 kills against Valparaiso.
Youth Movement
Freshman Amy Angelos has reached double figures in kills in four of the last six matches and has emerged as Bradley's leader in kills, averaging 2.46 per set. Angelos has started the last eight matches and is averaging 2.50 kills per set, while hitting .265 in her starts. Over the last six matches, she is averaging a team-best 2.68 kills per set and hitting at a .283 clip. An underclassmen has not led BU in kills since Lindsay Stalzer paced the Braves as a sophomore in 2003 and a freshman has not led the team in kills since Jenny Pavlas in 1993.
Homestand Continues
Bradley continues with a season-long five-match homestand this weekend with matches against Wichita State and Missouri State. The Braves play five of the next seven at home and are currently in the middle of a stretch in which BU will play eight of 10 in Peoria. Bradley is 2-4 at home this season. Drake (8) and Missouri State (7) are the only Missouri Valley Conference teams to have played more home matches than the Braves.
Milestones
A week after twin sister Rachelle Dejean recorded her 800th career dig, Genevieve Dejean reached the 500-career dig mark Saturday against Valparaiso. Genevieve matched a career-high with 20 digs in the Braves match against Presbyterian and needs 29 digs to move in Bradley's career top 40. Junior Megan Schmidt has moved into a tie for 35th in career kills and enters this week's play needing nine kills to reach 500. Senior Caitlin Staib tied a career-high with 12 kills against Valparaiso and is two kills short of 400 for her career, while junior Annie Cave needs five kills to reach 300.
Build It And They Will Come
Bradley's new $50-million facility is a hit with fans, as the Braves have drawn four of the top 20 crowds in program history through the first four home dates in the building. In addition to drawing the largest crowd in school history for the arena opener against Western Illinois (1,752), BU has brought in the 8th-largest (754 fans vs. SEMO), 15th-largest (608 fans vs. Valparaiso) and 19th-largest (563 fans vs. Hofstra) in program history already this season. Bradley's season record for average attendance is 457 set during the 1999 season.
Big Comeback Win
Bradley dropped the first two sets of it's match against Fordham on Sept. 4, before rallying to take the final three sets against the Rams. The Braves had not rallied from a two-sets-to-none deficit since rallying to top UMBC at home on Sept. 6, 2003. It marked the first time Bradley came back to win after dropping the first two sets in a road or neutral site match since rallying to beat Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind., on Sept. 10, 1999.
What's Your 20?
Freshman Amy Angelos' 20 kills against Fordham are the most by a freshman in the Missouri Valley Conference this season and highest output by a Bradley player this season. Angelos, who leads the team with a 2.46 kills per set average, is the first BU frosh to record 20 or more kills in a match since Marika Giguere accomplished the feat twice during the 2000 season. Giguere recorded 28 kills in a home match against Missouri State on Oct. 20, 2000.
Home Tournaments
Bradley is no stranger to hosting in-season tournaments, having hosted an in-season tournament 20 times in the last 27 years and for the second consecutive year will host a pair of tournaments this fall. The Braves have also had quite a bit of success when hosting in-season tournaments, boasting a 44-22 (.667) record in those events. Bradley has gone undefeated in its own tournament six times (1984, 1985, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005). The Braves are 9-7 (.563) under head coach Sean Burdette in home tournaments.
Sister, Sister
Freshman Amy Angelos saw a familiar face on the other side of the net when Bradley traveled to DeKalb, Ill., earlier this season for the team's first road match of the season. Her twin sister Sarah is a freshman middle blocker for Northern Illinois. Amy has played in nine matches for the Braves this season and is leading the team in both kills and blocks per set.
Maryland Invite All-Tournament Honors
Freshman Amy Angelos and sophomore Allie Gardner were both named to the all-tournament team at the Maryland Invitational. Gardner earned all-tournament honors for the second consecutive week, while Angelos earned the distinction for the first time in her career. Angelos averaged 2.92 kills and 0.92 blocks per set, while attacking at a .295 clip during tournament play. Gardner averaged 3.25 digs per set as the duo helped Bradley to a second-place finish.
Up Next
The Braves hit the road for the first Missouri Valley Conference road trip of the season, playing at unbeaten Drake (Sept. 24) and at Creighton (Sept. 25). Drake holds a 25-24 lead in the all-time series and owns a six-match win streak in the series with the Braves. Prior to the Bulldogs' six-game win streak, BU had won 12 consecutive matches and 15 of the previous 16 matches with Drake. The Bulldogs hold a slim 12-11 lead in the series in matches played in Des Moines, Iowa. Creighton holds a 19-13 lead in the series with the Braves and owns nine-match win streak heading into next Saturday's match. The Bluejays hold a 9-7 advantage in matches.
Welcome Home
Bradley opened its new home court with a sweep of Western Illinois on Aug. 27 in the season opener. The new 4,200-seat, $50-million facility sits on the former site of historic Robertson Memorial Field House and will serve as the permanent home for the Bradley volleyball and women's basketball teams. Following the demolition of the Field House after the 2007 season, the Braves played 10 of 13 home matches in 2008 at Illinois Central College's Lorene Ramsey Gym and called the Markin Family Student Recreation Center home for the 2009 campaign.
Gardner Named MVC Defensive Player of the Week
Sophomore defensive specialist/libero Allie Gardner was named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 30. In her first action as the Braves' libero, she earned a spot on the all-tournament team after averaging a Valley best 5.83 digs per set in the opening weekend of play. Gardner had a then career-best 18 digs against Western Illinois in the opener and followed it with a career-high 29 digs in Saturday's five-set win against USC Upstate. The only player in the MVC to have two outings with more than 20 digs during the first week of play, she capped the week with a 23-dig effort against Southeast Missouri State. Gardner is the first BU player to garner Valley Defensive Player of the Week honors since the award was first issued in 2007 and is the first Brave to earn any MVC weekly honor since Lindsay Stalzer captured Valley Player of the Week honors three times during the 2005 season.
New Faces
Bradley had three newcomers in the starting lineup in the season opener and a total of five newcomers have started at least one match through the first 10 contests of the year. In addition, newcomers have accounted for 29 of the team's 60 starts to date. Freshman Lauren Zerante has a team-best nine starts to her credit and ranks second on the team in both aces and digs in addition to ranking fourth in kills. Freshman middle blocker Amy Angelos has started the last eight matches and emerged as BU's leader in kills and blocks. The Braves have also used two newcomers at setter through the first 10 matches. Junior college transfer Jennifer Sykes is averaging 7.76 assists and 1.90 digs per set, while Marquette transfer Shelly Mueller is averaging 7.14 assists and 1.07 digs per set.
Can You Dig It
Junior Rachelle Dejean has led the team in digs each of the last two seasons and has a chance to become the first player since Sam Hardwick to lead the squad in digs in three consecutive years. Already owning two of the top 10 single-match dig totals in BU history, Dejean's 413 digs as a freshman ranks as the 10th best season total in program history and became the 22nd player in program history to reach 800 career digs with a 15-dig effort against Fordham. Through 74 career matches she has averaged 11.19 digs per match and needs 172 digs to become the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs.
Redshirt Season
Redshirt freshman Alise Tupuritis made her return to the court during the opening weekend of play, playing in one set against Southeast Missouri State. Tupuritis missed the final 23 matches of the 2009 season due to injury. Prior to her season-ending injury she led the team in kills (97) and kills per set (3.13), while earning all-tournament honors at the Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational and Radford Invitationals. At the time of her injury, she ranked third on the team in aces (12) and digs (60) and finished the year sixth on the team in kills and fifth on the squad in aces despite missing over two-thirds of the season. Tupuritis will have four years of eligibility remaining.
Keeping It In State
Bradley's match at Northern Illinois (Aug. 31) was the second of five in-state non-conference contests on the schedule and the Braves have nine matches overall against teams from the Land of Lincoln. Bradley finished the 2009 season 2-2 against in-state non-conference foes and posted at least a .500 record against in-state non-conference opponents for the first time since going 3-3 in 2005. The Braves are 36-23 (.610) against in-state non-conference foes since the start of the 1995 campaign.
Back-To-Back-To-Back?
Junior Megan Schmidt has led the team in blocks each of her first two seasons on The Hilltop and is looking to become the first player to lead the team in blocks in three consecutive years since Jenna Passman (2001, 2002 & 2003). Schmidt has a chance to join Passman and Sandi Kasting (1982, 1983 & 1984) as the only players in program history to lead the team in blocks in three different seasons. She is BU's active career leader in blocks with 198 and needs 100 blocks to move into Bradley's career top 10.
Hotels at Grand Prairie Invite All-Tournament Honors
Sophomores Madelyn Ervin and Allie Gardner each earned spots on the Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational all-tournament team. Ervin led the Braves in kills in two of the three matches and averaged 2.92 kills per set to go along with her team-leading five aces. Gardner started at libero in each of the three contests and posted a Missouri Valley Conference-best 5.83 digs per set average during the opening week. She helped BU average a Missouri Valley Conference leading 21 digs per set.
Ervin Named Scholar-Athlete of the Week
Sophomore outside hitter Madelyn Ervin was named the Bradley Country Financial Scholar-Athlete of the Week announced Aug. 31. An advertising major with a 3.78 cumulative grade point average, Ervin was named to the all-tournament team at the Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational after helping lead Bradley to a second-place finish. She averaged a team-best 2.92 kills per set during the three matches and also boasted a team-high five aces.
What's Back
The Braves return nine of 14 letterwinners, including four starters from last year's team, but youth still prevails on BU's roster. Bradley has nine underclassmen on the roster and 10 of the 16 team members boast one or fewer years of experience at the NCAA Division I level. Despite the prevalence of youth on the squad, BU's attack for 2010 includes five of the top six in kills from 2009 and seven of the top eight attackers from the previous year. In addition, Bradley's roster features four of the top five in digs from 2009.
Braves Picked 10th In Preseason Poll
Bradley was picked to finish 10th in a preseason poll of Missouri Valley Conference coaches, receiving 16 of a possible 100 points. Defending regular-season and tournament champion Northern Iowa was a unanimous pick to defend its title, receiving all 10 first-place votes.
On The Internet
Live stats for all Bradley home matches can be found on the Bradley Athletics website (www.bradleybraves.com) under the Live Stats link located near the top of the page. A free audio stream for most home matches and pay-per-view video streams for all home matches will be available at www.bradleybraves.com.
Active Leaders
Senior Melissa Collins entered the 2010 season as Bradley's active career kills leader and is currently 29th all-time with 569 career kills. Junior Megan Schmidt is second among active players with 491 career kills (35th place) and needs nine kills to reach the 500 mark. Junior defensive specialist Rachelle Dejean is the team's active career leader in digs with 828 and ranks 20th all-time at BU. Dejean needs 72 digs to move into Bradley's top 15 and is 172 digs from becoming the 13th player in program history to reach the 1,000-dig mark.
