Last Time Out
Bradley fell in three sets at Northern Illinois in the first road match of the season. The Braves hit .077 against the Huskies, while NIU served up eight aces and attacked at a .318 clip. Senior Caitlin Staib led BU with six kills. Mary Kurisch led the Huskies with 14 kills on 22 swings and also added seven blocks.
This Week
Bradley travels to the East Coast for a weekend tournament in College Park, Md. BU will face Georgetown, Maryland and Fordham in the team's first trip to the state of Maryland since 1990. The trip to Maryland is the third in program history. BU is 2-0 all-time against Georgetown, but has not played the Hoyas since the first trip to the Old Line State during the 1985 season. The Braves are 3-1 all-time vs. Maryland, which includes a 1-1 record in College Park, Md. Bradley has not played the Terrapins since sweeping Maryland in a tournament at Penn State in the 1999 season opener. Saturday afternoon's match against Fordham will be the first in program history.
Scouting The Opponents
Georgetown brings a 1-3 record into Friday's contest against the Braves. The Hoyas defeated American in four sets Saturday in Fairfax, Va., but enter this weekend's tournament off a Tuesday night four-set loss at Towson. Tournament-host Maryland is 2-1 on the young season. The Terrapins opened the season with a three-set loss at Missouri before posting wins against Utah Valley and Nevada in a tournament in Columbia, Mo. Fordham went a perfect 4-0 during the first weekend of play to win the Beanpot Classic. The Rams topped Northeastern, Boston College, Holy Cross and Quinnipiac to start the year.
Returning Home
Bradley volleyball head coach Sean Burdette will have a homecoming of sorts this weekend when the Braves head to College Park, Md. for a Labor Day weekend tournament. Burdette grew up in nearby Silver Spring, Md., and his junior club team often practiced on the UM campus. Burdette also coached in the state of Maryland, serving as associate head coach at Towson University during the 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons.
Sister, Sister
Freshman Amy Angelos saw familiar face on the other side of the net Tuesday when Bradley traveled to DeKalb, Ill., 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 three matches for the Braves this season, making two starts and is averaging 1.90 kills and a team-best 1.17 blocks per set. Amy finished with four kills and two block solos against the Huskies, while Sarah had three kills and two block assists for NIU in the match.
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.
Home Sweet Home
Bradley opened its new home court with a sweep of Western Illinois. 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.
Big Crowds On Hand For Arena Opening Weekend
Bradley broke its single match attendance record and drew two of the top eight crowds in program history during the opening weekend of play. The Braves drew a school record crowd of 1,752 for the first athletic contest in the new on-campus arena, surpassing the previous mark of 1,313 fans set on Nov. 12, 1999. BU followed it up with a crowd of 754 fans for Saturday's tournament finale against Southeast Missouri State. The crowd of 754 fans for the match against SEMO ranks as the eighth best attendance figure in program history.
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 three matches last week. 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.
Opening On A Roll
Fueled by a school-record crowd of 1,752 fans Bradley scored the first six points in its arena-opening match against Western Illinois en route to a sweep of Western Illinois. The Braves had not swept an opponent in a season opener since taking the first three sets against Maryland to kick off the 1999 season. The last time BU swept a foe at home in a season opener was 1994 (Wisconsin-Milwaukee). Bradley is 7-1 when opening a season with a home match.
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 four contests of the year. Freshman Lauren Zerante is one of four players to start all four matches and ranks second on the sqaud in both kills and digs. Zerante reached double figures in kills twice and collected 11 kills and 21 digs against Southeast Missouri State. The Braves have also used two newcomers at setter through the first three matches. Junior college transfer Jennifer Sykes is averaging 8.62 assists and 2.75 digs per set, while Marquette transfer Shelly Mueller is averaging 7.20 assists and 1.60 digs per set.
Season Openers
Bradley opened its 37th season of intercollegiate volleyball Aug. 27 when the Braves faced Western Illinois in the team's first match at the 2010 Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational. BU improved to 19-18 in season openers and have each of the last two season openers. Bradley ended an eight-match losing streak in season-opening contests in 2009 with a four-set victory against USC Upstate.
Home Openers
The Braves are 15-14 in home openers since the start of the 1982 season after Friday's sweep of Western Illinois. The Aug. 27 home opener is the earliest BU has played a home match in program history, surpassing the previous mark of Aug. 28 set in 2009.
Home Tournaments
Bradley is no stranger to hosting in-season tournaments, having hosted an in-season tournament 19 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 44-19 (.699) record in those events. Bradley has gone undefeated in its own tournament six times (1984, 1985, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005), while going winless in its own event just once (1987 - 0-3). The Braves are 9-4 (.692) under head coach Sean Burdette in home tournaments.
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 she needs just 41 digs to become the 22nd player in program history with 800 career digs. Through 68 matches she has averaged 11.38 digs per match and needs 226 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 Saturday, playing in one set against Southeast Missouri State. Tupuritis missed the final 23 matches of the 2009 season. 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
Tuesday's match at Northern Illinois 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 184 and needs 114 blocks to move into Bradley's career top 10.
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 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 30th all-time with 555 career kills. Junior Megan Schmidt is second among active players with 443 career kills (38th place) and needs 57 kills to reach the 500 mark. Junior libero Rachelle Dejean is the team's active career leader in digs with 774 and ranks 26th all-time at BU. Dejean needs doc digs to move into Bradley's top 25 and is 26 digs from becoming the 22nd player in program history to reach the 800-dig mark.
