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Volleyball starts 0-2 in MVC

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As the old adage goes: “When it rains, it pours.”

For the volleyball team, a downpour of injuries has resulted in a 0-12 overall record and an 0-2 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Braves were already playing without juniors Kristi Chynoweth, who was in a walking boot all summer, and Jessie Tulacka, who suffered a shoulder injury. Tulacka’s injury was not as serious as the team thought, and she is trying to return as soon as possible.

Adding to that, coach Jenny Maurer revealed that sophomore Kelsey Cave is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in her back.

Maurer said that even with all the difficulties this season, the team is growing together.

“We are focusing on us and getting better,” Maurer said. “We’ve had to change the lineups constantly due to the adversity we have been dealing with, so that’s all part of growing as a team and moving forward.”

The Braves opened their 2014 MVC campaign on the road at Drake University. Although the Braves fell in four sets (20-25, 17-25, 25-16, 22-25) to the Bulldogs, there was a breakout performance from junior Cordelia Murphy. Murphy had a career-high and team-high 14 kills on the match and added three blocks.

For the Braves’ second MVC match, they traveled north to Cedar Falls, Iowa to face off against the Northern Iowa Panthers. Unfortunately, it was another

tough four-set loss for the Braves (15-25, 25-27, 26-24, 13-25).

Highlighting the stat chart for the Braves were freshmen Taylor Thiele, who had a team-high 14 kills plus 16 digs, and Afton Sobasky, who had a season-high 18 assists and added 13 digs. For both, it was their third consecutive double-double on the season.

The loss was Bradley’s seventh straight four-set loss. Maurer said most matches going four or five sets are because of the fight in the team.

“Something that is in our mission this year is to be fighters every single set and match,” Maurer said. “We want to wear our opponent out and because of that we got, in my opinion, the biggest compliment from the coaching staff at UNI when they told us ‘you guys frustrated us a lot’.”

The Braves return home for two games starting Friday Sept. 26 to play preseason favorite Wichita State at 7 p.m., then come back Sunday Sept. 28 to play Missouri State.

When asked about Wichita State coming into Renaissance Coliseum for the team’s MVC home opener, Maurer said that people shouldn’t put too much stock into preseason rankings.

“We don’t give any special attention to whoever was the preseason favorite,” Maurer said. “[Wichita State] was the number one going into the season, but they were swept by Illinois State, so I think there will be a lot of parity in the MVC this season.”

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