PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley Volleyball team will kick off its 40th season of competition at home, hosting the CEFCU Classic Friday and Saturday at Renaissance Coliseum. The Braves welcome in-state foe Western Illinois, 2012 NCAA Tournament participant Maryland Eastern Shore and Tennessee-Martin for the two-day round-robin tournament.
The only team in the Missouri Valley Conference to return two players who ranked in the top 15 in the league in kills per set in 2012, Bradley will open the season at home for the fourth time in the last five years and have won four consecutive season openers overall.
Tournament play begins Friday with UT-Martin taking on Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) at 3 p.m. followed by Bradley facing Western Illinois at 6 p.m. in the 43rd meeting between the two teams. The Braves have won 11 of the last 12 overall in the series with the Leathernecks to take a 24-18 lead in the all-time series.
Saturday's action kicks off at 10 a.m. with Western Illinois playing UT-Martin, while Bradley and UMES will square off at 12:30 p.m. UMES and Western Illinois play at 5 p.m. with the tournament concluding Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. contest between the Braves and UT-Martin.
The Saturday night matchup with UT-Martin will be Back 2 School Night and Camper Reunion Night. The first 200 kids (ages 14 and under) receive a set of Bradley temporary tattoos. Volleyball camp attendees from 2013 will be invited to join the team on the floor during the national anthem and the Braves will sign autographs following the contest.
The weekend tournament is one of the few chances fans will have to see the Braves early in the year, with Bradley playing eight of nine matches in the month of September on the road. Bradley is hosting an in-season tournament for the 23rd time in the last 30 years overall and boasts a 46-26 (.639) record when hosting a home tournament.
Highlighting a strong returning cast of players is the senior trio of middle blocker Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan), outside hitter Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) and defensive specialist/libero Lauren Zerante (Elmhurst, Ill./York). The Braves welcome four freshmen to a group which includes 10 of 12 letterwinners and five starters from last year's team.
Bradley joins Missouri State as one of two teams in the league to return individuals which accounted for at least 80 percent of the team's kills, assists, digs and blocks in 2012.
Angelos is the seventh player in program history with 800 career kills before the start of their senior year and starts the season needing just six kills to move into Bradley's career top 20. Tupuritis is two kills short of 700 for her career and is 27th in career kills on The Hilltop entering the year.
Zerante is also in an elite group after tallying the fourth best season dig total in school history in 2012 (498) in her first season at libero. She is the 10th player in school history to notch 800 career digs before the start of her senior year and is 60 digs from breaking into Bradley's career top 20 in the category.
Live stats for all tournament matches will be available at BradleyBraves.com or on your mobile device at Bravesmobile.com. A subscription video stream for all six weekend matches will also be provided at BradleyBraves.com
