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PEORIA, Ill. - The Western Illinois volleyball team opened
the 2010 season with a 3-0 loss to host Bradley on the first day of the
Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational Friday at Bradley University Arena.
The Braves first opponent in their new arena, the Fighting
Leathernecks (0-1) fell 33-31 in a first-set thriller and dropped the final two
sets 25-20 and 25-15.
"We did not control our side as well as we could," Western
Illinois coach Kym McKay said. "It is tough to dig out of early holes and we
had too many unforced errors tonight. It is hard to keep up when the other team
receives so many free points. It was not our best showing, but we have a lot of
volleyball left and we look to respond better tomorrow."
In front of a school-record crowd of 1,752, the Leathernecks
and Braves battled deep into the first set and Western rallied from a 13-6 deficit
with 11 straight points. The
Leathernecks served for the set three times, including 31-30, but Bradley (1-0)
put down three straight kills to win the first set.
"We showed good composure after getting down early (in the
first set) and handled the pressure very well." McKay said. "The girls did a
nice job of battling back from that 13-6 hole and it is good to see that
resiliency this early in the season."
In the second set, the Leathernecks again rallied from a 13-7
deficit to take a 17-16 lead, but only tallied three more points to drop the set
25-20. Freshman Meghan Ross collected her first career kill in the final set
but the Leathernecks never led and dropped the third set 25-15.
Offensively, junior Krissy Bergquist dominated in the first
set with 11 kills and finished the match with 16. Junior Allison Gilbert put down 11
kills, including five in the second set.
Senior setter Ellen Miller dished out 36 assists and recorded
13 digs to extend her double-double (assists-digs) streak to 12 matches dating
back to last season. Bridget Murphy paced Western with 18 digs and Brooke
Stittleburg chipped in 12.
Western tallied eight team blocks to Bradley's six, and held
a 44-37 advantage in kills.
In the first game of the Invitational, Katie Downey recorded
a game-high 17 kills and Emily Sanders collected 53 assists to lead USC-Upstate
to a 3-1 victory over Southeast Missouri State.
Western continues play in the Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational Saturday
with a 9:30 a.m. match against Southeast Missouri State before taking on
USC-Upstate at 4:30 p.m.
