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Iowa trip proves difficult for volleyball

Yavianliz Rosado (in red) tallied her 1,000th career dig on Friday against Drake. Photo by Kayla Johnson.

There seems to be something about traveling to Iowa that always stifles the Bradley volleyball team. Bradley hasn’t won in Iowa since Nov. 2013. This trip proved to be no different as the Braves were defeated by Drake and Northern Iowa over the weekend.

“Playing on the road in our conference period is tough … but when you talk about UNI and Drake over the weekend those are two of the top teams in our conference,” head coach Carol Price-Torok said. “So, you have back to back really tough matches where you’ve really got to make sure you’re on your A-game.”

Bradley brought their A-game out of the gate, beating Drake 26-24 in a strong first set Friday night in Des Moines, but dropped the next three as Drake won the match 3-1.

Senior Yavianliz Rosado recorded her 1,000th career dig during Friday’s match making her the 17th player in Bradley history to reach that mark.

“I was definitely happy when I found out that I had my 1,000th dig during the game against Drake, Rosado said. “It means a lot to me because this was a goal that I had for myself and I accomplished it. Now, I am looking forward doing better things and getting more digs for my team to help the team be more successful.”

Price-Torok also said she is proud of the way Rosado has played during her two seasons as a Brave, and the way she’s formed such a great chemistry with Bradley’s line of defense.

“She’s definitely the spearhead of our defense,” Price-Torok said. “She has a lot of volleyball under her belt. She does a really great job of reading the game.”

Saturday’s result was eerily similar in Cedar Falls as Northern Iowa bounced right back after dropping the opening set, to beat the Braves 3-1.

Freshman Hannah Thompson picked up her ninth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 17 digs, but it wasn’t enough for the Braves to hold on against UNI, a team that has received votes to be ranked in the top-25 nationally.

“I think both [games] were pretty similar for us,” Price-Torok said. “We weren’t really clicking offensively and our setter-hitter connections were kind of up and down. I don’t think we were all firing on the same cylinder consistently.”

“We came out confident in both firsts sets of each match, capitalizing on our strengths,” junior Kathryn Graf said. “As the matches went on, both teams picked up on our tendencies which slowed our momentum.”

This weekend the Braves are back home for what will likely be two pivotal games in the MVC standings. Bradley will play Loyola and Valparaiso on Friday and Saturday night.

The team will immediately turn around and play at Illinois State, who is tied with Valparaiso for second in the MVC on Monday night.

“When you play three games in four days that can get to be kind of a lot,” Price-Torok said. “We’ve always preached since the start of the season that we have 16 people that can come in and make a difference so we’re going to need to rely on our depth.”

In a three-game stretch that could change the balance of the conference, the Braves are prepared for some big tests in the games ahead.

“This weekend is all about making adjustments as the game goes on while staying true to our mentality that we can have success over any team in conference if we play to our strengths,” Graf said.

Bradley will host Loyola Chicago tonight at 7 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum and Valparaiso at 7 p.m. Saturday.

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