Bradley volleyball dominated this past weekend at the CEFCU Invitational at Renaissance Coliseum, winning nine out of ten sets and defeating the likes of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Eastern Michigan and IUPUI.
The Braves swept the Cougars of SIUE 3-0 on Friday before taking on a doubleheader Saturday, where they defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 3-1 in the first game before later sweeping the Jaguars of IUPUI 3-0.
Against SIUE, Bradley led or tied in every major statistical category. Senior Abby Johnson led the Braves with eight kills while graduate transfer Dru Kuck led the team with 23 digs in the back line.
“I think Dru really sets the tone for what we really want Bradley volleyball to become,” head coach Alicia Williams said. “Her voice is great, she demands getting every ball in the backcourt, she is an encourager to her teammates and she makes them feel good like they’re capable of doing things. I think she just does a lot of the things that people may not even be able to see [and] she does really well in terms of leading the backcourt.”
Facing off against Eastern Michigan, the Braves won the first set 25-20 then dropped the second by the same score before winning the third and fourth 26-24 and 25-23, respectively. Bradley was outkilled 57 to 50 by the Eagles, but made up for it with their serving as they had nine aces to Eastern Michigan’s five. Junior Karina Simatos led all players with three aces as Kuck and junior Kaylenn Hunt added two each.
Against IUPUI, with both teams looking for a weekend sweep, Bradley lost the kill battle once again, this time by a score of 37-28. However, they made up for it with their aces along with a monster performance at the net, out-blocking the Jaguars 10 to four. Sophomore Kendall Minta led both teams with seven blocks, which was four more than Hunt.
“I thought we served really well, I thought we blocked pretty well too, and then during close points, I felt like we kinda stuck together and just kinda pushed through some kinda ugly play but just making sure that we kept things simple on our side,” Williams said.
Heading into this season after going 10-21 last year, the mentality was bound to change and fifth-year senior Karagan Coggin thinks the Braves have lit a spark.
“I think the biggest thing was our mindset. I think that’s changed from last year and in the past,” Coggin said. “Before every game we say we are the best team in Bradley’s history and we have set our minds to that.”After the tournament, Minta was named the tournament MVP and Kuck made the all-tournament team as both played lights out, stuffing the stat sheet in each game played.
The upperclassmen and graduates shined for the Braves this past weekend, as their years of experience helped pave the way for Bradley to achieve their best start in eight years.
“You’re already wiser when you’re a senior or even a grad,” Williams said. “Not only are they just a little bit wiser in their choices and why they do the things that they do but now they’ve had a full year and a half [with me] so now they know what my expectations look like a little bit too.”
This weekend, Bradley heads up to Central Michigan University for the Chippewa Invitational where they’ll play Central Michigan, Albany and Saint Louis.
