Bradley volleyball opened the 2022 season this past weekend with the CEFCU Invitational held at Renaissance Coliseum, where the Braves won one of their three games.
Western Kentucky, Miami (Ohio) and Missouri-Kansas City all traveled to Peoria for the tournament. Bradley opened play against the 21st-ranked team in the nation, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, and the game marked the first time since 2006 that the Braves started the season against a nationally ranked opponent.
“It was fun for us to play Western Kentucky,” Alicia Williams, Bradley’s first-year head coach, said. “Our seniors have not played a top-25 team in the last three years and that was good for them.”
The experience is something that the Braves will take with them after being swept 3-0 by the Hilltoppers. Williams felt that her team was competitive in the first game and battled throughout all three sets, which the Braves dropped 25-16, 25-19 and 25-13.
Senior Karagan Coggin led Bradley with a team high of seven kills and three blocks.
“This was the first time that we have seen a top-25 team, which was very cool,” Coggin said. “It was definitely an adjustment but overall, the play this weekend, we learned a lot [and identified] things we can get better at, and overall it was a good start to the season.”
Bradley was battle tested after the first game and even more so after their final two games required five sets. The Braves fell behind in their first game on Saturday against Miami (Ohio), dropping the first set 25-21 but battling back for a 26-24 win in the second set.
The RedHawks responded with a win in the third set 25-18, pushing the Braves to win the fourth and tie-breaking fifth sets. The Braves gave it their best attempt, winning the fourth set 25-23 but falling short in the fifth and final set 15-9.
After the five-set loss in the morning game on Saturday, the Braves responded with a five-set victory in the evening against Missouri-Kansas City. It looked as if Bradley was headed for its third straight loss on the weekend after dropping the first two sets, but the Braves rallied to win the final three sets to take the game by the scores of 25-12, 25-23 and 15-13.
“We have determined right away that we are a very high-energy team which makes sustainability difficult for us,” Williams said. “We were a little bit nervous when we [got] to those fifth sets and how we [would] handle that. We had two five-setters, and in one match we did not handle it quite as well as we could have, and in the other match I thought we handled it really well.”
The comeback win over the Roos was the first victory for Williams in her short tenure at Bradley and she was recognized after the game for this accomplishment.
“I love that they gave me a little speech afterwards, as I was not ready for that,” Williams said while sharing a laugh. “It was very well-thought-out and the girls were very happy for me. […] You don’t think that way as a coach. Usually, you are the one serving your team, and it [feels] good that you can tell that the players care about me leading them and to do things for this program.”
The Braves hit the road this weekend for the Reamer Club Xtra Special tournament in West Lafayette, Indiana. Bradley will take on the host, the 11th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers, in the first game on Friday morning before finishing off the weekend with Milwaukee on Friday night and Utah on Saturday.
