Bradley volleyball (7-14, 3-6 MVC) needed a statement performance at Renaissance Coliseum last weekend after dropping seven of their last eight matches, and head coach Alicia Williams thinks they got it.
“I think we had just a little sense of relief because we’ve been playing pretty well, but we didn’t see a product of a win out of some of those games,” Williams said. “Just being able to come with the right mindset, I think, [helped] gain confidence for the girls right here.”
The Braves arrived back in Peoria after getting swept by conference leaders Drake and Northern Iowa the previous weekend, dropping the team to 1-6 in Valley play. Looking to rebound, the team claimed a 3-1 victory over Evansville (8-15, 5-4 MVC) and a 3-0 sweep of Indiana State (3-14, 2-7 MVC).
In late September, the Braves entered into a stretch of five consecutive losses, including a pair of 3-1 losses to the Purple Aces and the Sycamores. The return matchups were much more favorable.
“[We talked about] consistency, working together and trusting each other,” freshman middle blocker Kendall Minta said. “I think on the court, that really showed.”
In Bradley’s win over Evansville on Friday, the Braves battled back from a three-point deficit by rattling off five straight points en route to the 25-23 first set victory.
The Purple Aces had a strong response in the second set. Evansville took multiple 10-point leads and burned the Braves’ timeouts early, leading the Aces to a 25-15 set win.
Not backing down, Bradley took the last two sets 25-18 and 25-20, completing their second win in conference play this season. Minta led the Braves with 14 kills but thinks the credit should be passed around to the rest of the squad.
“It always has to do with my team,” Minta said. “I think we pass really well, so that always helps, but I think everyone put trust in me and I had trust in my teammates.”
Looking for three consecutive home wins, the Braves regrouped for a matchup versus the last-place Sycamores on Saturday.
The Braves’ fans saw a back-and-forth score throughout the contest. The first set included 12 ties and eight lead changes, but Bradley fought off a late push to take the beginning set 25-22.
In the second set, it was more of the same. Eighteen ties encapsulated the following frame in which the Braves never led by more than two. However, sophomores Silan Demirkol and Karina Simatos used a kill and service ace to close out the 26-24 win for the Braves.
On the edge of defeat, the Sycamores were unable to prolong the match, allowing the Braves to pull away for the three-set sweep and their second consecutive win in Valley play. Afterwards, Williams expressed the team’s fight throughout the match.
“We’ve lost a lot of tight matches because we started kind of panicking when the game got tight,” Williams said. “We are capable of handling pressure, and I don’t know that we fully believed that at the beginning of the year.”
Through nine conference games, the Braves have struggled to keep up with the rest of the conference. Averaging 11.6 kills a set and sporting a hit percentage of .166, Bradley sits 11th in both measures in the 12-team league.
To their credit, in the two games this past weekend, the Braves averaged 14.9 kills per set and hit at a .209 clip. Both are improvements the Braves will have to focus on going forward.
“We can beat these teams,” Minta said. “This is how we want to play and set a new standard for how we want our team to do the rest of the season.”
Bradley will take on Murray State at Racer Arena tonight and will square off against Belmont in Nashville on Saturday.
