This weekend, Bradley Volleyball (1-2) hosted the CEFCU Invitational at the Renaissance Coliseum. The team powered through tough challenges, winning five out of 11 sets against St. Thomas (0-3), Southern Indiana (2-1) and DePaul (3-0).
The Braves started the weekend in powerful fashion against St. Thomas on Friday, winning 3-0, but fell short in Saturday’s matchup against Southern Indiana. Bradley lost the first set 23-25, the second 22-25 and the third 17-25.
After struggling on Saturday, the Braves’ pitfalls continued on Sunday against DePaul. The Blue Demons dominated the first two sets, with end results of 21-25 and 20-25, respectively. The Braves came back in the third and fourth sets, winning 25-22 and 25-20. Despite the Braves’ efforts to secure the fifth and final set, they fell short 15-7.
“Each team has its own unique pain points, and at some point at the beginning of a new season, those pain points come out,” senior outside hitter Kaylenn Hunt said. “Our game against Southern Indiana showed some spots that we need to focus and work on, and Sunday we were able to execute the adjustments needed.”
Hunt assisted the team with an overall of 17 kills and four blocks during the tournament this weekend.
Head coach Alicia Williams acknowledged a few highlights and areas of improvement, as the team has nine additions along with seven returning players.
“To see them kinda putting [the working parts] together was a highlight. They compete hard. Our girls are aggressive… and that’s just a breath of fresh air for us,” Williams said. “Executing on a block, executing serve and pass at times and taking care of the ball at crunch time are the [big points] that we took away that we need to work on going into this weekend.”
The team will travel to California this weekend to compete in the UCI/Adidas Invitational Tournament against Portland, Idaho State and UC Irvine.
