It’s been a trying season for the Bradley volleyball team, and it did not get any better last weekend.
The Braves dropped two games at home, stretching its losing streak to 20 matches and 327 days (or roughly 4.5 Kardashian-Humphries marriages).
It also dropped Bradley’s record to 0-18 on the season, not that you’d know that by looking at the team’s website. The Braves’ record is nowhere to be found on the schedule page, despite other sports like soccer having a home/road/neutral site split and a conference record displayed right above the schedule.
The winless Braves squared off against in-state rivals Illinois State Redbirds on Friday and dropped the match in three sets, 25-15, 25-17 and 25-17.
Freshman Afton Sobasky totaled 13 assists and 11 digs, good for her team-leading seventh double-double of the season, to pace the Braves.
Bradley trailed by just four points at 19-15 in the first set, but Illinois State went on a 6-0 run to close it out. The Braves fell behind early in both the second and third sets and were unable to recover.
Senior Madison Kamp said the team’s effort is there, but the production has not been.
“We still have to find it, we know we have the talent, and we know we have the ability,” Kamp said. “We just haven’t reached it yet. It’s very frustrating, weekend after weekend to not reach our potential.”
The Braves second matchup of the weekend saw the team face Indiana State. For the sixth consecutive match, the Braves were swept in three sets, 25-12, 25-14, 25-13. Kamp says losing games in that fashion takes its toll.
“Obviously it’s a little discouraging, going down in three every time because every time we play, we can win; if not, [we can] be really competitive,” Kamp said. “I think we just have to find it, find new light.”
Junior Kristi Chynoweth led the team against the Sycamores with six kills while another junior, Lea Sack, had 10 digs.
Bradley led 7-5 in the second set before a nine-point run by the Sycamores put it out of reach. Head coach Jenny Maurer said that Indiana State’s near-flawless play is something the Braves have had trouble with this season.
“Indiana State is fast and they don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Maurer said. “That’s definitely been an Achilles’ heel for us: managing our errors and trying to slow the momentum.”
Momentum has not necessarily been on Bradley’s side this year, as the Braves and the Morehead State Eagles are the only two remaining Division I volleyball teams who have yet to win a game this season.
Bradley did have some good news this past weekend: Jessie Tulacka played her first home matches after returning to action the previous week. Maurer said she looked good, but was not quite ready for full-time action.
“She did fantastic, but she definitely doesn’t have the strength or endurance to last a whole weekend yet,” Maurer said. “She’s bounced back and stepped onto the court without personally looking like she’s missed time. She just doesn’t have the ability to endure in terms of her shoulder holding up quite yet.”
In what could be described as a lost season, several Bradley players are approaching statistical milestones nonetheless. For instance, junior Jessica Teel recorded her 1,000th assist against the Redbirds last week. However, Maurer said the team is not exactly concerned with personal achievement.
“We don’t talk about it; the writers are the ones who bring it up,” Maurer said. “We’re focused on the process, on who we have on a given day and what lineup we have to go with. We’ve never heard any complaints about who’s playing where and, when we basically didn’t have enough hitters in the front row to play a match but still had to anyway we had players volunteering.”
The Braves kick off a three-game road trip tonight against Loyola (Illinois), a team Kamp believes Bradley can beat.
“Loyola is going to be a very, very similar team to us,” Maurer said. “Not in record by any sense, but in type of play and personnel, it’s going to be a battle, and if we bring it, I think we have a very good chance.”
