PEORIA, Ill. -- First-year Bradley volleyball head coach Jenny Maurer and her team began preparations for the 2011 season with their first official practice Tuesday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum.
Maurer's first team at BU will be an experienced group, featuring four seniors and a total of eight upperclassmen. The Braves returned 11 of 15 letterwinners from 2010, including five starters from last year's group which won three of its final four home matches and closed out the year with a 4-4 mark in the final eight matches.
In addition to welcoming two talented freshmen and the return of middle blocker Allie Falter (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Pius X) to the lineup after she suffered a season-ending injury in the second match of the 2010 season, Bradley returns the top five attackers and starting setter from last fall.
Sophomore Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) emerged as one of the Braves' top offensive weapons last year and is the first player to lead the team in kills as a freshman with a team-best average of 2.34 kills per set. Senior Megan Schmidt (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) is the team's active career leader in kills and is poised to break into Bradley's career top 10 in blocks.
Junior Madelyn Ervin (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) led the Missouri Valley Conference in aces per set (0.40) and was third on the team in kills as a sophomore. Sophomore Lauren Zerante (Elmhurst, Ill./York) was one of three players to appear in all 31 matches last year and ranked among the team leaders in both kills (fourth - 164) and digs (third - 260).
Senior Annie Cave (Easton, Ill./Illini Central) joined Zerante as the only BU players with 100 kills and 100 digs last year, while junior Shelly Mueller (Mount Prospect, Ill./John Hersey) started 25 matches at setter in her first season on The Hilltop.
Helping anchor the backline is the senior duo of Genevieve and Rachelle Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) along with junior Allie Gardner (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley). Rachelle Dejean is the first player to lead the team in digs in three consecutive seasons since Sam Hardwick (1999-2001) and enters her final year needing 226 digs to break Bradley's career record.
Genevieve Dejean was the only player to appear in all 115 sets last year and is 358 digs from becoming the 14th player in program history with 1,000 career digs. Gardner opened the 2010 season as the starting libero and was second on the squad in digs (2.75 per set).
Junior middle blocker Jessica McNellis (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) appeared in only one match because of injury in 2010 and sophomore Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) returned to the floor last fall after missing the bulk of the 2009 season due to injury.
Bradley opens the 2011 season at home Aug. 26 & 27 with the CEFCU Classic. The Braves take on Nebraska-Omaha Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. on the first day and will play a second match against the Mavericks Saturday, Aug. 27 at 11 a.m. BU concludes the tournament with a 4 p.m. match against Illinois-Chicago. Four of the first six Missouri Valley Conference matches will be at home, starting with a Sept. 16 matchup against Evansville.
Season tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for children (K-12) at the Bradley Ticket Office in Renaissance Coliseum (1601 W. Main Street). Personal Seat Options (PSO's) are also available through the Bradley Ticket Office. PSO members receive tickets to all ticketed Bradley Athletics sponsored events in addition to receiving preferred status to purchase tickets for all other events in Renaissance Coliseum, excluding commencement ceremonies.
