Originally published in the September 10, 2010 issue
After beginning the season with a 2-2 record, the volleyball team traveled to the East Coast last weekend to compete in the Maryland Invitational, facing three opponents in College Park, on the campus of the University of Maryland.
The team returned home with a winning record after taking two of three matches.
The first match of the weekend pit the Braves against Big East foe Georgetown.
Georgetown took the first set 25-21, but Bradley fought back behind the strong play of freshman Amy Angelos to take the second set 25-20.
Angelos had five kills and two blocks in the set, and the Braves hit a sweltering .444 to tie the match.
The Braves won both the third and fourth sets 25-17 and 25-23 to earn its third win of the season.
Sophomore Shelly Mueller said the team is trying to constantly improve and get better.
“We have talked about not giving up large strings of points and to keep our energy consistent throughout the entire match to help us become a more successful team in the long run,” she said.
The next day the Braves matched up with tournament host Maryland and was defeated in straight sets 16-25, 21-25, 13-25.
Freshman Lauren Zerante had a team high seven kills and senior Caitlin Staib added six of her own.
Junior Rachelle Dejean led the team with 10 digs.
The Braves faced Fordham in the third and final game of the tournament. The Braves dropped the first two sets but battled back to win the match 27-29, 21-25, 25-22, 25-15, and 15-13.
It was the first time since 2003 the Braves have rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a match.
After dropping the first two sets, Bradley jumped out to a commanding 8-2 lead in the third and never trailed.
Fordham pulled even briefly at 21-21, but the Braves rebounded to win 25-22.
The fourth set featured five kills and a block from Angelos and Bradley hit a blistering .387 to clobber the Rams 25-15 and even the match at two games apiece.
The fifth and deciding set was tied at 13-13 when Fordham made a service error to give the Braves a chance to close out the match.
Angelos again came through for Bradley notching her game high 20th kill to give the Braves the come-from-behind victory.
Junior Megan Schmidt added 12 kills and junior Allie Gardner had a match high 19 digs.
The Braves will return home this weekend where they will host the CEFCU Classic in the new arena.
