Redbird Volleyball

This weekend I decided to follow some more Redbird Volleyball. It was early September since I had seen the Redbirds play and The Bradley Braves and Northern Iowa Panthers were in town.

Friday night, a larger than I expected crowd filtered into Redbird Arena. Bradley is always a favorite since they are a mere 40 miles away making them a rival at any sport. Their volleyball team has had some challenges the last few years, this year being no exception. A quick scan of the roster shows a lot of their on court staff at 5'5" or less. Not that shorter people can't play great volleyball, but it does leave the front line a bit challenged. Still the Braves managed to at least show that they were on the court. The Redbirds took the match in 3 sets. Kasey Mollerus received an award before play started for breaking the Redbirds record for most digs. She truly is one of the best I've seen. Rarely is she faked out by an opponent or out of position. Congrats Kasey!


20091009 Bradley v Illinois State - Images by Alan Look

On Saturday, the annual Pack the Arena promotion filled the stands even more for the bout against the Panthers of Northern Iowa. The Panthers are undefeated in the Missouri Valley Conference and have only lost 2 matches all season. In fact, coming into the match against the Redbirds they had only lost 2 sets in Valley play. They lost their 3rd against the Redbirds and had 2 more challenging sets only taking the first one by any number at all.