PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team opens a stretch in which eight of the next nine matches will be on the road, beginning Friday and Saturday with three matches in two days as part of the Omaha Marriott Classic in Omaha, Neb.
The Braves (2-1 overall) opened the season with a 2-1 record and second-place finish at the season-opening CEFCU Classic, but will play just one home match in the month of September starting with this week's trip to Omaha. Bradley will open tournament play Friday with a 4 p.m. match against Big Sky Conference foe Southern Utah in the first meeting between the two programs.
Saturday's contests include matchups with in-state foe and Ohio Valley Conference member SIU Edwardsville at 1 p.m. and tournament-host Omaha of the Summit League at 5 p.m. The Braves will face SIU Edwardsville for the fourth time in the last six years with Bradley looking for its third win in four tries against the Cougars. The Saturday afternoon matchup with Omaha will be the third in three seasons. Bradley holds a 2-1 lead in the all-time series after opening the 2011 season with a pair of home wins against the Mavericks.
BradleyBraves.com will provide links for live stats for all three matches and a subscription video stream for Saturday's 5 p.m. matchup against Omaha will be available at OMavs.com
Seniors Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) and Lauren Zerante (Elmhurst, Ill./York) both earned awards following last week's efforts at the season-opening CEFCU Classic. Angelos was named to the CEFCU Classic all-tournament team after posting a Missouri Valley Conference best 3.91 kills per set during the opening weekend to go along with a team-best .434 hitting percentage.
Zerante was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week after collecting 6.00 digs per set in the first three matches. The first Bradley player to garner MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors since 2010, Zerante tied a school record for digs in a three-set match with 22 in a sweep of 2012 NCAA Tournament participant Maryland Eastern Shore and collected 20 or more digs in each of the first three matches.
Bradley is off to a 2-1 start to the year for fifth consecutive year and has a chance to boast a 4-2 record or better to open the season for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
In addition to Angelos and Zerante moving into the top 20 in school history in kills and digs, respectively, fellow senior Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) notched her 700th career kill last weekend and has moved into 24th in kills at Bradley. Tupuritis and Angelos (16th in school history with 852 kills) combine to give Bradley two players with 700 or more career kills on the same squad for the first time since MVC career kills leader Lindsay Stalzer and Briony Hammet played together in 2005.
Following the weekend trip to Omaha, the Braves conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule Sept. 13 & 14 at the Billiken Challenge in St. Louis, Mo.
