The Bradley volleyball team has seen its fair share of struggles to keep up with the grueling competition the Missouri Valley Conference presents. The tough times continued this past weekend as the team dropped a pair of matches at Missouri State and Wichita State in straight sets.
Missouri State and Wichita State currently hold two of the top three positions in the MVC standings. Although they were swept in both matches, the Braves didn’t go down without a fight.
In the match against the Wichita State, the Shockers made short work of Bradley in the first two sets losing 25-12 and 25-14. The last set saw a much closer score that featured 12 ties and six lead changes but ended with the Shockers pulling away for a 25-22 win.
Head coach Carol Price-Torok knows her team can compete with anyone, but it’s all about finding the consistency to play like they did in the third set for the whole match.
“We have been talking about playing consistent all season,” Price-Torok said. “There is no magic way to achieve that. We need to keep preparing and talking about how we want to execute and keep learning what that is like and how to do it more than not.”
One thing that has stood against conference foes has been the dip in numbers for sophomore outside hitter, Erica Haslag. After a dominating start to the season in non-conference play, opposing teams in the MVC have really keyed on Haslag to try and take away one of the Braves’ better players.
“This is something we saw coming,” Price-Torok said. “Erica needs to embrace the challenge and keep finding ways to score and mix up her shots, but we also need to pass consistently so we can use the other offensive weapons we have, Which in turn will free Erica up more as well.”
Not to be glossed over, the Braves were able to pick up their first conference win of the season a couple weekends ago against Evansville in straight sets. Even though it didn’t quite translate into this past weekend, coach Price-Torok knows that getting the first win under their belts can help them down the road.
“I want the players to see that they can execute no matter who is across the net,” Price-Torok said. “It was a good indication that we have a lot of options, and we need to keep using everyone. We will need to continue to spread the ball out and use everyone.”
The Braves return to the Renaissance Coliseum this weekend as they host Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. tonight and Drake at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.
“Our goals are always the same,” Price-Torok said. “Prepare for the opponent at hand, don’t take anyone lightly and execute at a high level. We will need to pass the ball well so our setters can run the offensive system we have on a consistent basis and then make adjustments to keep ourselves in the matches. UNI and Drake are both playing really high level volleyball right now, and we are looking forward to the competition.”
