Remember when the Bradley volleyball team began the season 5-1, with a gargantuan opportunity to spike away its 2014 blues?
Well, unfortunately for the team, it has fallen back into a 0-9 hole conference play and stands at an overall record of 5-19.
Which you wouldn’t know, since the record has been struck off the volleyball schedule page for the second straight year.
Head coach Jenny Maurer’s squad briefly returns from a road trip, where they faced the likes of Wichita State and Missouri State and promptly got swept 3-0 by both teams for the 10th and 11th times this season.
Maurer said even though the results are not what the Braves want to see halfway through the conference season, the team is valiantly trying to regroup to earn a spot in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tournament.
“When you see on paper we’re [0-9] in conference and on a consistent losing streak, you wouldn’t see that no one is feeling sorry for themselves,” Maurer said. “It’s not like anybody is enjoying the losses, but at the same time, what’s past is past. We take it one day at a time, one match at a time.”
The only bright spot that could be taken from the two weekend tilts was Lea Sack’s dig milestone, as the senior became the seventh player in program history to record 1,200 career digs.
“The record would be awesome, and it’s reachable if I play the way I should play,” the Nebraska native said. “At the same time, if we’re not winning, I’m not happy.”
In order to start getting under the win column, Sack said it comes down to playing volleyball well, which the team has done in the past.
“Confidence goes into it, but honestly, at this point, it’s a matter of execution,” Sack said. “We have gameplans going into every game. We know how to win, we showed that at the beginning of the season. We beat some really good non-conference teams.”
In non-conference play, the Braves did start the season with an impressive 5-1 record. Sack attributes the current losing streak to the strength of the MVC as a whole.
“We just played, and the pressure of conference hits and we show how we actually are,” Sack said. “The Missouri Valley Conference is not very forgiving but at the same time, any team can beat any team in this conference.”
The pressure she mentions is the learning curve the freshmen have undergone with the start of conference play. While Sack acknowledges the freshmen have much to learn, she said they need to learn quickly.
“Us seniors are trying to still be a presence,” Sack said. “It’s still letting [the freshmen] know it’s OK to make freshmen errors because you’re freshmen. But at the same time, their learning curve has to be a little bit steeper because we’re halfway into conference and they don’t have freshman year to be practice players and work their way into the lineup.”
Sack will get a chance to prove her words are doctrine this Saturday as the Braves travel to Gentile Arena in Chicago to play University of Loyola.
Even though the Ramblers rolled over Sack and the Braves when they visited Peoria Sept. 24, Sack said she thinks this weekend will be different than the last time these teams played.
She also said the team has a chance to establish the start of its own winning streak in Chicago.
“It’s hard when you’re seven games into the conference and you still haven’t tasted that win yet,” Sack said. “Once it comes, we’re going to know how it feels, and it’s going to keep rolling. I can feel it because we’re so close. I think Loyola is it.”
However, Maurer isn’t thinking about winning streaks, as she points to the game against Loyola as a must-win if the Braves want a chance at the MVC tournament in late November.
“I think nine wins is one of those things that would probably assure you [a spot in the tournament],” Maurer said. “I don’t have a crystal ball, but I would venture to say as the win opportunities start dwindling, so does what it takes to get into the conference tournament.”
