PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team opened the season with nine matches in a 16-day span, but has a light week on tap with just one game on the slate as the Braves open Missouri Valley Conference play Sunday with a 2 p.m. match against Drake at Renaissance Coliseum.
Bradley (6-3 overall) opened the season with a 6-1 record to match the best start to a season through seven matches in program history (also done in 2000) and will look to continue its winning ways against Drake (2-9 overall), which will play Loyola Saturday night in Chicago in its conference opener.
The matchup with the Bulldogs is just the second league opener for the Braves against Drake, despite sharing conference membership in volleyball for 31 years. Bradley has not faced Drake in a league opener since 1987, with Saturday's tilt marking the latest conference opener for the Braves since the 1991 Gateway Conference schedule featured just nine matches and started on Oct. 18. Bradley will open Valley play at home for the fourth consecutive year.
BradleyBraves.com will provide a link to live stats for Sunday's contest in addition to a subscription video stream. Prior to Sunday's match, children (ages 5-14) can have their faces painted in the Braves Fun Zone. Bradley will host a post-game clinic for all pre-registered children, featuring an hour of skill instruction by the coaches and team. To register please email names and ages of all participants to busportsmarketing@bradley.edu by Friday, Sept. 20.
The Braves completed a season-long, six-match road swing last weekend with three matches at the Billiken Challenge in St. Louis, Mo. Sunday's match is Bradley's lone home match in the month of September and falls in a stretch in which the Braves will play eight of nine matches away from home. The Braves will play six of eight matches during the month of October at Renaissance Coliseum.
Senior Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) earned all-tournament honors for the third consecutive week for her efforts at the Billiken Challenge and has garnered all-tournament awards in eight of 13 tournaments during her collegiate career.
One of two players in the MVC to rank in the top 10 in the league in kills per set, attack percentage and blocks per set, Angelos has climbed into 14th in career kills at Bradley (938) and needs 18 kills to pass Nicole Gagnon for 13th in school history. Angelos is the first Bradley player to reach 900 career kills since MVC all-time kills leader Lindsay Stalzer reached the 900-kill mark in 2004.
Fellow senior Lauren Zerante (Elmhurst, Ill./York) is also closing in a milestone, needing 20 digs to reach 1,000 for her career. Zerante is second in the Valley in digs per set (5.29) through matches of Sept. 15 and has a chance to become the 14th individual in school history to record 1,000 career digs. She needs 26 digs to pass Julie Penn for 13th at Bradley.
Bradley leads the Missouri Valley Conference in kills (13.62 per set), assists (13.03 per set) and digs (16.91 per set) through Sept. 15. Freshman Melissa Hoerber (Fulton, Mo./Fulton) leads the Valley in aces per set (0.35) and has served up at least one ace in six consecutive matches heading into league play.
Following Sunday's match, the Braves will play contests at Southern Illinois (Sept. 27) and at Evansville (Sept. 28) before a season-long, four-match home stand.
