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Volleyball begins conference play in rough fashion

Sophomore Jamie Livudais rises up for a block against a DePaul player in a 3-0 loss to Depaul University. Photo by Ann Schnabel.
Sophomore Jamie Livudais rises up for a block against a DePaul player in a 3-0 loss to Depaul University. Photo by Ann Schnabel.

After starting off the season 5-1, it would be generous to say the Bradley volleyball team hasn’t cooled off.

Rather, they’ve gotten stuck in a freezer with no immediate way out.

The Braves started conference play Thursday, as they took on the first place Ramblers at the Renaissance Coliseum and lost in three-sets.

Head coach Jenny Maurer’s squad endured many errors and miscommunications in their first set, which Maurer chalked up to the team’s fundamentals.

“It’s our serve and pass game,” Maurer said. “Passing on defense, we were just as undisciplined as we’ve ever been, and you can’t afford to do that in this conference.”

Following the first set, the Braves played more consistently. However, Maurer said consistency does not add up to a winning formula.

“The third [set] we came out with some more energy, which accounted for… a couple points,” Maurer said. “You still have to do the little things, and we weren’t.”

However, freshman Abby Ihrke thought the team matched up to Loyola better than the score showed.

“I think we need to come together as a team,” Ihrke, who totaled 10 digs against Loyola, said. “In my opinion, Loyola wasn’t much better than us.”

That loss marked the team’s third three-set loss in a row, which traces back to last Saturday when the Braves took part in the Bradley Invitational.

The Braves hosted the Bradley Invitational, where the team welcomed DePaul University, University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) and Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) to Reniassance Coliseum.

Bradley was promptly swept out of the tourney by the competition.

SEMO was the Braves’ first opponent in the Bradley Invitational and took the host team to a five-set match. The Redhawks eventually took the match 3-2, but not before Bradley freshman Erica Haslag recorded 24 kills, which was one of the highest kills total in almost two years.

The next day of the Bradley Invitational featured a double-header for the Braves as they took on UTEP and DePaul University and were swept by both teams.

Against UTEP the Braves’ Lea Sack moved into 13th place in the all-time digs list. However that was the only bright spot of the match.

The Braves and the Miners fought for control in the first set, as Bradley had set point twice in the opening set. The Braves could not capitalize and lost the first set 32-30.

That was as close as Bradley got to taking a set, as they lost to UTEP 3-0.

Eventual Bradley Invitational champion DePaul made quick work of the Braves, as they suffered another 3-0 loss.

The Braves lost in one hour and 19 minutes, which was the quickest match of the Bradley Invitational.
That led to Thursday, which Maurer had a low evaluation for the conference opener.

“We came around in bits and pieces, but [it was] just shaky,” Maurer said. “[We were] below average to poor, I’ll leave it at that.”

With conference play now starting up, Maurer said the team needs to nail down fundamentals and play their game.

“Teams are going to earn their points and you’ve got to give them respect,” Maurer said. “We also have to execute our side of the court … We have to generate offense and we can’t do that if we’re out of system and trying to just save the ball.”

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