Bradley volleyball took a big step in the right direction last season, qualifying for the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference tournament for the first time since 2005.
Now, head coach Jenny Maurer and her Braves look to continue moving in the right direction by returning to the MVC tournament and competing for a MVC championship.
“The first step is getting [to the MVC tournament] and the next is repeating there,” Maurer said. “Being consistent is what we are focusing on in practice and also being consistent with our out- comes.”
After losing four top players due to graduation last year, the Braves will also be without sophomore Rachel Jones, who will red- shirt this season due to an undisclosed injury. Jones made the MVC All-Freshman team last season.
Even with freshmen Jamie Livaudais, Taylor Thiele and Afton Sobasky seeing considerable playing time the first weekend, Maurer says that this season is not a rebuilding year.
“Not at all,” Maurer said. “I don’t associate us trying to figure out who we are as a team with new players to rebuilding because it wouldn’t be fair to [senior] Madison [Kamp] who has spent four years working to build this team.”
The Braves opened the 2014 regular season Aug. 29-30 at the DePaul Invitational in Chicago by losing to Hampton in five sets (26-24, 13-25, 17-25, 25-21, 13-15). Junior Jessie Tulacka set a career-high with 21 kills in the match.
Host-team DePaul would take on the Braves in the afternoon game of the second day of the invitational. Things didn’t go much better for the Braves, as they fell to the Blue Demons in four sets (22-25, 21-25,26-24, 25-27). In the final match of the invitational, the Braves couldn’t handle Stony Brook and fell in five sets (25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 11-15).
So far this season, junior Lea Sack leads the team in digs with 38 and Tulacka leads the team in kills with 53.
The Braves head to Denver for the Pioneer Classic Sep. 5-6 to take on The University of Kansas, The University of Denver and Sam Houston State University.
