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Maybe there aren't enough people who care about volleyball, but there is simply no reason other MVC teams can build winning programs, and Bradley can't seem to. Bradley's facilities and financial support are among the best in the MVC or the Midwest, and there is fertile recruiting territories nearby, yet every season we seem to have fewer players from Illinois (only 3 this year), more turnover, and fewer All-MVC players than any other school.
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Bradley Volleyball faces a critical weekend...
..we face Evansville tonight and SIU tomorrow...both are beatable (Evansville sits only one notch above BU in 9th & SIU will be on a long road swing all weekend playing first at Loyola on Friday, then coming to Peoria before heading back to SIU)
the MVC Volleyball Championship Tournament is NOT like the basketball where everyone gets in..
ONLY THE TOP SIX Valley teams qualify for the Conference Championship - with the top two teams getting a bye.
Currently there's almost 1/2 the conference season left but....
with 8 matches left - Bradley is already sitting 6 games out of that #6 spot in the conference (currently held by MSU) - PLUS we have already been beaten 0-3 by Missouri State so Bradley's work is really cut out for them...
BU VB must pick up a couple upset wins this weekend or they risk getting eliminated from Conference Tourney play this early.Comment
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Congrats BU VB - they beat Evansville tonightComment
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BU Volleyball over Evansville in 5 sets-
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Bradley volleyball lost again tonight at Illinois State in 4 sets.
.........1......2......3.......4
BU....13.....22.....25.....19
ILS....25.....25.....21.....25
Bradley falls to 6-19, and 1-12 and 10th place in the MVC. They have lost 18 of their last 19 matches.
Bradley has 5 more matches before the MVC Tournament (Nov. 26-28 at MSU).
Only the top 6 teams qualify for the tournament, and with tonight's loss, Bradley is now 6 games behind the 6th place team and thus they have been mathematically eliminated from the tournament.Comment
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Bradley volleyball falls again, this time in 3 sets to Indiana State-
Record drops to 6-20, 1-13.Comment
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Over 60% of the team is made up of freshmen and sophomores so I don't think they're quite as bad as their record might indicate.The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies... - John Walter WaylandComment
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OK, so does that mean that 40% of the team are upperclass- juniors and seniors? That is a pretty common ratio in the MVC.Originally posted by PhiAlphaBoy View Post
In fact, most other MVC teams have as high or higher percentages of freshmen and sophomores than Bradley does! And this factor should not be used as an excuse for back to back last place finishes.
This is year 5 for this coach, and the team has won a total of 8 matches in the last 2 years combined and Bradley is headed for it's second dead last finish in a row.
Here are the percentages for the top 6 teams in the MVC Volleyball standings-
Wichita State's team is 74% freshmen and sophomores, and yet they are in 1st place in the MVC with a 21-7, 12-2 record.
SIU's team is 60% freshmen and sophomores, and yet they are in 2nd place with a record of 20-7, 11-3.
Illinois State's team is 63% freshmen and sophomores, yet they are in 3rd place with a record of 20-8, 10-5
Missouri State's team is 73% freshmen and sophomores, yet they are in 4th place with a record of 18-9, 9-5.
Northern Iowa's team is 53% freshmen and sophomores, yet they are 15-13, 9-6 and in 5th place.
Loyola's team is 53% freshmen and sophomore, yet they have moved past Bradley and are 19-8, 8-6 and are in 6th place.
Even other losing teams like 9th place Evansville has over 64% freshmen and sophomores- higher than Bradley. So how does Bradley improve enough to pass any of those teams?Comment
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The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies... - John Walter WaylandComment
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The BU volleyball had a bad weekend at home. They lost on Friday to Missouri State 3-0.
Then they lost again Saturday to Wichita State 3-0. It was their 15th shutout on the season, and they have lost 21 out of their last 22 matches. They are now 6-22, 1-15.
Yes, the team is young, and they only lose a couple seniors of significance, and return nearly all their top hitters. So if I were AD, I'd give them another year and expect to see significant improvement.Comment
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According to the local rag they have signed some promising recruits. Hope so.Originally posted by Da Coach View PostWhat part of illegal don't you understand?Comment
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Hopefully, this will be the last post about this year's volleyball team. In their final 2 matches of the season, they lost 3-0 last night at UNI, and then lost 3-0 again today at Drake. That makes the final record for the 2015 season 6-24 and 1-17 in the MVC for 10th place.
Last season's record (2014) was 2-26 and 2-16 in the MVC- also 10th place. Last season included a 22 match losing streak to start the season.
This season started 5-1, but after that the team went 1-23 over their last 24 matches, including a 16 match losing streak. 17 of the 24 losses were 0-3 shutouts, and only once did Bradley win 2 sets in any of their 24 losses.
I guess there is nowhere to go but up, though that is what some kept saying about basketball after the 2011 coaching change, and they were wrong.
Let's hope for improvement next year.Comment
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at some point when a coach has never had a winning record and seems to be getting worse five years in- you gotta stop blaming injuries and shortage of talent....you have to look at the people who hired her.Comment
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Baby steps and patience Tornado. You and I both know that Reynolds can't come in and fire everybody at once. With volleyball being a low profile /low revenue sport I suspect he'll just let this play out and not renew the head coach's contract.Originally posted by tornado View PostThe True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies... - John Walter WaylandComment
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MVC Volleyball Championship involves just the top six teams - so Bradley is not in Springfield, MO competing..
There's no reason they can't include all ten MVC teams - but they don't
Anyway- the first round was yesterday..and it's playing out exactly as the seeds would predict...
Missouri State eliminated Loyola 3-0
Northern Iowa eliminated ISU 3-1
The final Four - getting underway with the 2nd round today pits..
(#4 seed) UNI vs. (#1 seed- bye) Wichita State (5:00pm)
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(#2 seed- bye) SIU vs. (#3 seed) Missouri State (7:30pm)
Championship game tomorrow, Saturday, at 4pmComment
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