PEORIA, Ill. - The Bradley women's tennis team will open its fall schedule this weekend at the Northern Iowa Fall Invitational at Byrnes Park in Waterloo, Iowa, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The Braves will be joined by 11 other teams, including Valley foes Drake and UNI in the three-day event.

Play begins Friday at 11 a.m. and continues at 9 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday.  Joining the three Valley teams in the field will be Big 10 teams Iowa and Minnesota along with Big 12 Conference foes Iowa State and Missouri.  Rounding out the field will be Northern Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Dakota State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

Seventh-year Bradley head coach Scott Petersen's 2010-11 squad is one of the youngest in the Missouri Valley Conference, returning just three letterwinners from last year in addition to welcoming four freshmen.  The Braves boast just one upperclassmen in senior Nicole Miller (Glendale Heights, Ill./Glenbard West), who led the team in both singles victories (13) and doubles wins (13) last year as a junior. 

Bradley's #1 singles player last year, Miller enters her final year on The Hilltop tied for 16th in school history with 40 career singles wins and needs 15 victories to move into BU's career top 10.  On the career doubles list, Miller is just 12 wins short of breaking former doubles partner Emily Regenold's school record of 56 wins.  In addition, Miller is tied for ninth in school history in combined wins with 85 and needs 32 victories to overtake Teri Chan as the school's all-time wins leader.

Sophomore Kennedy Scott (Calgary, Alberta/National Sports School) held down the #5 singles spot in the lineup last year for BU, while fellow sophomore Brigitte Graf (Double Oak, Texas/Faustina Academy) will also help provide leadership for the four freshmen on the roster after playing #6 singles as a freshman. 

A talented group of freshmen will push the Braves' returning players for spots in the lineup.  Freshman Adele Henke (Edina, Minn./Edina) helped her team to a Minnesota Class 2A team title last fall, while freshman Sara Rodefeld (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) went undefeated in doubles play in her final prep season en route to a state doubles title.  Rodefeld finished her prep career as Carmel High School's all-time wins leader and went 72-10 in her final three seasons.

Bryan, Ohio, native Meredith McDonagh (Bryan H.S.) was a First-Team All-District selection after posting a 28-6 record as a senior.  Rounding out the freshmen class is Ashley Roth (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Seaholm).  A two-time team co-captain, Roth helped her high school team to a sixth-place state finish or better each of her four years, including a second-place finish her freshman season.

Bradley has just two other tournaments on the fall schedule following the Northern Iowa Fall Invitational.  The Braves will play in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships Oct. 8-10 in Normal, Ill., before wrapping up the fall slate Oct. 21-25 at the ITA Regionals in Fayetteville, Ark.